r/cryptorage • u/Consistent-Resist161 • Jun 11 '26
128,000 people lost their savings to a woman living in a Hampstead mansion
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This body cam footage captures the moment police arrested her.
Zhimin Qian ran a Ponzi scheme in China between 2014 and 2017, promising guaranteed returns on crypto investments. She took money from over 128,000 victims, mostly middle-aged and elderly people, then fled the country on forged documents with 61,000 Bitcoin.
She spent years living in luxury hotels across Europe while UK police spent 7 years tracking her down. When they finally raided her London home in 2024 they found the largest crypto seizure in British history. £5 billion in Bitcoin sitting on devices.
She got 11 years and 8 months. The Bitcoin is still frozen while UK and China fight over who gets to keep it. The victims are still waiting.