Exit Scammers Start Refunding Victims' ETH After Being 'Blinded by Money'

 In what appears to be a strange  twist, the exit scammers behind the “Pure Bit” cryptocurrency exchange  have recently started refunding their victims after claiming they’ve  made a terrible mistake while “blinded by money.” As CryptoGlobe recently covered, the scammers raised funds this month through an initial coin offering (ICO)  that was set to last until November 30. 

Before waiting for it to end,  the group shut down its website and kicked investors out of their Kakao  group, before emptying their wallets and running away with 13,000 ETH. Pure Bit had promised investors  the raised funds would be used to launch a cryptocurrency exchange and a  token called “Pure Coin.” The coin would both be used to reward holders  with regular dividends, and to reward those who traded it. To get more  investors on board, Pure Bit reportedly ran affiliate campaigns. It  required a minimum investment of 5 ETH.

 The project’s team remained  anonymous during the ICO, as it was based in South Korea – a country in  which the fundraising practice has been banned. This made it riskier for  investors, but it seems widespread media coverage brought the  authorities’ attention and saw the scammers start returning 50% of the  funds stolen.

 https://twitter.com/BlockchainROK/status/1062405649026314240 

In the group’s statement, they  admit what they’ve done and recognized they “negatively affected  investors in the project” both financially and psychologically. Per  their words, they’ve made an “unforgivable mistake that cannot be turned  around, blinded by money.” The statement ends with an  admission of guilt, and an apology to the ICO’s investors who were  affected by the scheme. Blockchain data reveals the team behind Pure Bit  has indeed been refunding some users, as addresses that sent them large  amounts of ETH little over a week ago are currently receiving their  money back. 

 While some believe the scammers did get a change of heart, others have  pointed out the attention brought to the case could see the South Korean  authorities launch an investigation. As CryptoGlobe covered, exit scams  have been somewhat regular this year, as they’ve already taken over $100 million from investors, according to a report.