I recently came across a case that truly shocked me. 2 million Chinese people were scammed, with the total fraud amount reaching 500 billion yuan, and the main character is named Zhang Yufa. This person's story is no longer something that can be simply described as a "scam."

In October 2019, a heartbreaking scene appeared on the streets of Kuala Lumpur—more than 100 Chinese people knelt down collectively, crying and begging. They were all victims of a virtual currency investment scheme. When they finally found the headquarters, it was already deserted. This was the moment when the MBI group collapsed.

But to talk about Zhang Yufa’s "rise to wealth," the story begins in 2008. At that time, during the global financial crisis, he opened a Hongdao Café. On the surface, it was a café, but in reality, it was a Ponzi scheme—pay 6,000 ringgit to buy "original shares," with monthly rebates, tripling in value after five years. Sounds tempting? Anyway, over 3,000 people were tempted at the time. What was the result? The café’s service was so terrible that it closed down after a few months. Victims reported the crime, and Zhang Yufa was sentenced for fraud, but he only stayed in jail for a day, paying a fine and then being released.

Having tasted success once, his appetite grew. In 2009, he and his partners established the "Dream Circle Group," claiming a return rate of 70% to 90%. Investors were graded based on their investment amounts, receiving monthly rebates, and could also develop downlines to earn rewards. In plain terms, it was multi-level marketing, but he packaged it very attractively, attracting over a billion yuan in funds. Until 2014, when the website was shut down, the scam came to an end.

Interestingly, Zhang Yufa had already "escaped" before the scandal was exposed. He fled to Hong Kong and came into contact with a company called SMI, which claimed to be a "tech company" promoting gaming finance, but was also a pyramid scheme. There, he "studied diligently," absorbing all the experience from Dream Circle Group and SMI.

In 2015, Bitcoin exploded in popularity. Zhang Yufa seized the opportunity and created the MBI Group. This time, he was smarter, designing a more rigorous system. MBI promoted a virtual currency called "Yiwubi" (M Coin), claiming it "only rises and never falls." Users had to pay at least 700 yuan to join, buy virtual currency to gain membership levels, and could then earn 10% to 200% annual returns. Developing downlines also earned extra rewards. Sounds very tempting? The core of the M Coin scam is exactly this—no real product backing, entirely driven by new funds coming in.

To appear more legitimate, Zhang Yufa set up various physical stores where users could spend M Coins. He also spent heavily on officials, charity, and sponsoring concerts. For a time, MBI was thriving, and Zhang Yufa was revered by followers as "Daddy Zhang."

But problems gradually surfaced. Investing 1 million yuan and getting it credited was easy, but withdrawing 1 million yuan required queuing, with a maximum of 10k yuan per day. People began to question, and as a result, were attacked by die-hard fans. These people’s trust in Zhang Yufa had truly reached a blind level.

In 2017, joint law enforcement in Malaysia and China cracked down on MBI. Zhang Yufa was arrested, and over 90 accounts totaling 209 million yuan were frozen. But not long after, he was released on bail. He continued issuing new virtual currencies, WCG, under the guise of blockchain, to keep raising money.

Until 2019, MBI completely collapsed. The 2 million victims finally realized they had been scammed. Some even considered kidnapping Zhang Yufa’s son to force him to repay the money, illustrating how desperate they had become.

And what did Zhang Yufa do? He quietly fled to Thailand and became a monk in a temple. The reason given was "cultivating oneself." The most outrageous part was that he claimed this monastic retreat would only last 7 days. Traveling across countries to become a monk for 7 days—was it meditation or fleeing from arrest?

During his time as a monk, he also bribed officials in Thailand, bought land and streets, and continued running his businesses. It wasn’t until July 2022, when joint operations by Chinese, Malaysian, and Thai police took place, that he was officially arrested in Thailand. On July 26, he was extradited to China for trial.

Looking back at the entire case, the套路 of the M Coin scam isn’t actually complicated: no real products, the company itself isn’t profitable, promises of extremely high returns, entrance fees required, and the need to develop downlines. These features have been exposed countless times before, so why do so many still fall for it?

Ultimately, it’s human greed at work. Who doesn’t want to get rich overnight? But there’s no such thing as a free lunch—what falls from the sky isn’t a pie, but a trap. MBI has fallen, but such scams won’t disappear, because as long as human hearts harbor greed, there will always be someone willing to take risks.