Fintoch was a blockchain financial platform that was allegedly built by Morgan Stanley and promised users a guaranteed 1% return on investment each day. The project was believed to be a Ponzi scheme, and the alleged CEO — pseudonym Bobby Lambert — was found to be a paid actor named Mike Provenzano. Earlier in May, both the Singaporean government and Morgan Stanley published warnings that the platform was a scam.

In May 2023, the team behind Fintoch carried out the rug pull for $31.6 million. After users reported that they were unable to access their funds, the team bridged the stolen cryptocurrency to other blockchains, including Tron and Ethereum.

Fintoch was a Ponzi project that showed all of the warning signs of an exit scam in the making. Many of the project’s claims — its CEO, affiliation with Morgan Stanley, and registration in Silicon Valley — were completely fabricated, it promised guaranteed ROI, and multiple organizations issued warnings about the scam. Despite this, the founders were able to perform a rug pull for over $31 million.

This incident underscores the importance of doing your research before investing in a Web3 project. To learn more, check out our blog on the warning signs of an exit scam.