Chain.group Ponzi Scheme

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Chain Group Website/Logo

Chain.Group promised investors their choice of trade groups who would invest their funds on different terms, different periods, and for different rates of return. In reality, behind the illusion, everything was a ponzi scheme. Part way through December 2017, the scheme collapsed, and investors lost everything. There is limited indication that any further actions have been taken to recover the funds.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About Chain.group

"Do you want to earn on cryptocurrency trading?"

"It's a great idea! But do not trade by yourself."

"At Chain.group, those who want to make money on cryptocurrency exchanges meet those who is good at doing it."

"How to start?"

"Let us tell you about Chain Group service.

If you are interested in making money on cryptocurrency exchanges, but not confident in your skills, then you are in the right place. At Chain Group, those who want to make money on cryptocurrency exchanges meet those who are good at doing it. I'm talking about Exchange Trade Groups.

Each group has it's own capital, but also strives to increase it's profit with additional funds. To attract more funds to their turn-over, trade groups offer their terms for accepting deposits, and investors choose a trade group to invest in. The site presents a list of trade groups. Investors can study statistics, analytics, or discuss trade groups with other investors on the forums. Each investment proposal of a trade group has a few main characteristics:

(1) Deposit term, during which an investor gets a return on his deposit. The minimum term is 90 days.

(2) Daily rate of return. The minimum daily rate allowed at the service is 0.1%. The maximum is 10%.

(3) A trade group can offer stable or variable return.

(4) Compounding function. A trade group can allow reinvestment of return on the deposit. If an investor uses the compounding function, his whole or partial daily return is added to the principal amount of his deposit automatically. When the deposit term is expired, it is refunded to the investor's account.

(5) Early withdrawal of the principal deposit. A trade group can allow early withdrawal of a principal deposit. It may charge a fee for that.

Trading in cryptocurrencies can bring a good return but it also involves high risks, as if a trade group makes a few bad buys, it can reduce it's assets. But losses of trade groups do not affect the investors. Trade groups compensate negative results with positive ones, and investors are offered an average rate of return, taking into account the statistics of potential losses and profits.

If due to all circumstances, a trade group has declared itself bankrupt, the chain group service provides partial compensation to investors from a special stabilization fund. The service has a referral program. If you bring a new investor to the service, you get 5% of his each new deposit. The service cares a lot about safety and security. All funds at the investors and trade groups accounts. We hope that the chain group will become your reliable tool for making your dreams and plans come true. We wish you every welfare and financial prosperity."

"You can load funds and withdraw via:"

Hexabot.top & chain.group both exit scams both high yield products 2FA very legit looking sites that both went poof

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Chain.group Ponzi Scheme

Date	Event	Description
August 6th, 2017 3:20:37 AM MDT	Archive Capture	Capture of the website live via internet archive.
December 12th, 2017 4:56:02 PM MST	Withdrawal Issues	Users of the platform start to post about withdrawal issues on Reddit.
December 13th, 2017 10:26:36 AM MST	Some Withdrawals Still	A video shows some withdrawals still happening and the website still online. The site is starting to be majorly affected by blockchain congestion.
December 14th, 2017 4:24:28 AM MST	Withdrawals Reported Paused	A Reddit thread reports that withdrawals are paused on the blockchain.
December 15th, 2017 11:22:07 AM MST	Hot Wallet Emptied	The hot wallet for Chain.group appears to have been emptied out.
December 19th, 2017 11:53:32 AM MST	Users Start To Plan	A Reddit thread requests users to "wake up" and "probably have a plan" about what to do with Chain.group.
December 21st, 2017 3:53:31 PM MST	Final Website Capture	The final capture of the Chain.Group website by internet archive.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost is unknown.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.