Bulgarian crypto scam is a top 5 whale in JustLend after exiting with client funds

  cryptopolitan.com 18 h

BETL, hiding behind a simple business model, turned into one final crypto grab. The firm focused on the Bulgarian market, where those greedy for passive income ended up locked out of their savings.

Bulgarian investors seemingly did not learn their lessons after the crash of OneCoin. A new passive income scheme, Blue Electric Technology (BETL), promised regular payouts and a seemingly solid investment. The promising startup, however, performed an exit scam on the weekend, leaving some of its investors in disbelief after locking in their savings.

On December 6, BETL stopped paying out the promised returns, citing technical difficulties. At one point, BETL representatives asked for deposits of 99 USDT to verify accounts, with the promise of returning the funds. None of this happened, leaving thousands of Bulgarian investors scrambling to inform authorities and find the persons responsible for the scam.

Even after media reports that BETL was probably a dishonest Ponzi, users continued to send 99 USDT to the project’s TRON address. Based on community estimates, at least 3,500 and up to 6,000 investors tried to verify their profiles, not believeing BETL was doing its last rug pull. In total, the estimated number of investors ranges between 8,000 and 30,000.

A breakdown of the BETL haul shows that investors poured in up to $80M, while early entrants withdrew $50M. Out of the remaining funds, BETL financed its generous PR campaign and its office network. In the end, the firm retained $20M, including the last desperate transactions asking for 99 USDT to verify accounts. Some of the last depositors even sent additional funds to try and reclaim their previous investment.

BETL itself has not disappeared, and may be back as a similar scheme, known as PowerPal. The project casually rebranded its own old Facebook page, stating that BETL had ‘finished’ its mission, instead of exit-scamming. Without a pause, PowerPal took over where BETL left, once again offering investment packages in return for a regular payout.

PowerPal is distributed through subscription links, listing several tiers of investment, again based on physical battery packs.

BETL and PowerPal among top JustLend holders

Even after the rug pull, BETL and its next iteration, PowerPal have retained some funds in identifiable wallets.

Based on wallets revealed by some of the scammed investors, BETL holds a small slush fund of $226K from asking for verification fees.

BETL asked for deposits of 99 USDT to verify accounts, but never returned the funds as promised. | Source: TronScan

But the biggest holdings have been stored in another wallet, the original address advertised by BETL to Bulgarian investors.

The wallet in question holds another highly liquid 415,599 TRON-based USDT. Some of the client deposits have been transformed into JustLend USDT, a potentially yield-bearing asset. The wallet identified as belonging to BETL holds a total of 581,321,256 jUSDT.

As a result, the wallet identified as BETL is now the fifth-biggest whale holder of jUSDT, holding 4.65% of the token’s supply. However, jUSDT is not pegged to a $1 value, so BETL now holds around $6.074M in JustLend assets. The exact value of the portfolio varies based on market conditions.

BETL promised a power bank rental business

BETL is part of a family of business offers that try their best not to look like crypto scams. The startup claims to sell power bank devices, which then rent out batteries for the Chinese market, where users would charge their phones on the go. The company put up a reliable public face for months, building a chain of up to 30 offices and organizing public events. BETL was even preparing for a big Christmas gala on December 21.

BETL opened offices in many Bulgarian cities, using the locations for extra publicity and recruitment. | Source: BETL archives

Similar schemes include promises of shared farming, bee-keeping, or other physical projects. The business model is the rationale to make the end buyer pay for an investment package.

All investors are urged to pay in crypto, in this case USDT on the TRON or BSC network. However, most buyers are not using self-custodial wallets, instead buying and investing through a fintech app. The buyers of BETL are not crypto natives, and the project itself stays away from crypto communities on X.

Instead, BETL recruited its investors through Facebook and ran its operations through Telegram, a practically untraceable communications channel. Days after the end of payments, it turned out some of the so-called ‘managers’ were using stolen photos and fake identities, later deleting their Telegram profiles.

The Bulgarian manager of the company, Ms. Kalina Nikolova, deleted her social media, citing threats claiming she misled investors. Nikolova participated in some of the BETL high-profile events, which suspiciously resembled older OneCoin rallies.

BETL even used sports and media celebrities to boost its profile, though some of those celebrities claimed their image was used without their knowledge.

Were Bulgarian investors totally unaware?

It is possible that some investors took their risk with BETL, while being aware the payouts would eventually end. “We all knew it was a pyramid scheme, and we joined willingly,” wrote Facebook user Ivan Asenov.

Similar crypto-based pyramids have been making the rounds on Facebook communities, often played for fun money, with the full awareness of the coming rug pull. However, BETL also drew in unaware investors, some of which took out personal loans to buy the BETL investment packages.

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