Chih-Hao Qiu lured victims with a “lending smart contract” offering a monthly interest rate of 3% to 7%, and the amount stolen is estimated to exceed 5 billion. So far, 14 people in the case have been detained pending trial with restrictions on their travel. The case is still expanding.
(Backgrounder: A DeFi lending platform in the Absolute Energy fraud case—siphoned off 5 billion in funds! A thousand victims were left holding worthless coins)
(Additional background: How messed up is the Kang-You case? A bank lent 540 million to a fugitive for “buying” debts they couldn’t get back)
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- Main mastermind Chih-Hao Qiu: after being released on bail, he carried out another scam; the regulatory gap became a loophole
- The fund-raising design behind the 7% monthly interest
- Two operation executives claimed to be “investors”; their explanations were not accepted
- The anti-fraud warning center continues to investigate; the case has not ended
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating a virtual-currency fraud case involving “Absolute Energy.” According to a report by the Economic Daily, as of now, a total of 14 people have been detained pending trial with restrictions on their travel, and the amount involved is estimated to exceed 5 billion yuan.
After search operations conducted this week, the court issued rulings for 9 defendants. Among them, the operation executives Gao Yu-Zhen and Pan Hong-Xin, and the salespeople Zheng Yi-Jun and Yang Dian-Qi, were all ruled to be detained pending trial with restrictions on their travel. Operation executive Li Ming-Cheng paid a 500k-yuan bail deposit and was released on bail; salesperson Jiang Bo-Wen paid 100k yuan and was released on bail.
The day before yesterday, the Investigation Bureau’s Taipei City Division transferred three more salespeople. After the court held a hearing, Zhuo Jun-Ming was ruled detained pending trial (not with restrictions on travel), Li Zheng-Kang was released on bail after paying 300k yuan, and Zhan Zi-Hong had his residence restricted and was temporarily not detained.
Main mastermind Chih-Hao Qiu: after being released on bail, he carried out another scam; the regulatory gap became a loophole
What makes this fraud case especially noteworthy is the prior record of the main mastermind, Chih-Hao Qiu.
According to information, Chih-Hao Qiu previously was charged after allegedly improperly raising and issuing securities without authorization, with the amount involved in the alleged fraud reaching 270 million yuan. Last year, prosecutors indicted him and sought a 18-year prison sentence. However, during the period when he was awaiting trial and was released on bail, the regulatory mechanism failed to stop him from again accessing the capital markets. The Absolute Energy fraud case took shape during this gap period.
People in the legal community point out that there is a clear mismatch in the current system regarding bail conditions and subsequent monitoring for those with prior financial-crime convictions. This case is a concrete example of such a loophole. Therefore, Taiwan’s High Prosecutors’ Office transferred the matter to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office’s “Anti-Fraud Warning Center” for specialized prosecution.
The author observes that, in recent years, fraud groups have intentionally adopted DeFi wrappers. This is not a coincidence, but a meticulously calculated strategy of trust. Terms such as “decentralization,” “smart contracts,” and “transparent on-chain” have long built a positive image within crypto communities, and they happen to become talking points used to lower victims’ guard.
The fraudsters borrow this language to make the platform look more “technological” and more “verifiable” than traditional underground investments. In reality, however, it is completely unsupported by any real agreement, so people must be careful and stay on guard.
The fund-raising design behind the 7% monthly interest
It is understood that from 2022 to 2025, Chih-Hao Qiu used the pretext of “green energy investment” to siphon off funds, and carried out the scam through a branded-design APP, an operable interface for lending smart contracts, regularly held in-person briefing sessions, and two types of “self-developed” coin offerings: the EGT coin and the TBT coin.
According to the platform, after users hold the coins, they can make loans through the APP, earning a monthly interest rate of 3% to 7%. Converted to an annualized return rate, this ranges from 36% to 84%. The complete visual and narrative packaging leads many participants to mistakenly believe they are taking part in a real DeFi protocol—rather than a fund-raising structure that uses stable returns as bait.
In January this year, prosecutors launched the first wave of searches. Chih-Hao Qiu, secretary Qiu Chao-Lu, DeFi operation executive Huang Yong-Fan, business director Wu Cheng-Feng, software engineer Huang Jun-Wei, and multiple other business personnel—9 people in total—were all ruled to be detained.
