Once claimed to make millions quickly through crypto! YouTuber Yang Zhenglun Chester Car is involved in an investment scandal and is accused of promoting a Ponzi scheme.

Automotive YouTuber Chester Car (real name Yang Zhenglun) recently fell into a trap after promoting an investment scheme on social media, drawing harsh criticism from netizens who questioned whether he was involved in promoting a “Ponzi scam.” This influencer, with over 100,000 subscribers, has previously been controversial due to his background in cryptocurrency investments and a shooting incident.

Investment Scheme Sparks Controversy

Yesterday on the Threads platform, a netizen exposed Chester Car’s temporary story content, openly recommending an investment target, claiming “annual return rate of 24%, monthly dividend of 2%, principal protection, and the ability to withdraw the principal at any time, with a minimum investment of 500,000.” Although the scheme claimed to involve the buying and selling of rare collectibles (watches) and emphasized “not a scam,” it still triggered a large wave of criticism, with comments pointing out “it’s obviously a Ponzi scam,” and some digging into his past records, claiming “checking his background reveals he’s a scam.”

This discussion was later reposted by Taiwanese entrepreneur Xiao Shangnong on Facebook, quickly igniting public debate.

Yang Zhenglun Chester Car’s Complex Background

Chester Car is a car knowledge popularizer, mainly sharing unboxing of new cars, parts reviews, and test drives. However, his personal background is complicated, having been involved in major criminal cases years ago.

In the 2017 Zhongli shooting incident, Yang Zhenglun was the sole survivor. The assailant broke into an underground sports lottery company and shot dead two men and one woman before committing suicide. Yang Zhenglun claimed that he was just chatting with the deceased Yin Shou-teng, who co-managed an online marketing company with him, and was inadvertently caught in the incident.

Police investigations revealed that Yang Zhenglun and Yin Shou-teng co-managed three sports lottery analysis websites, but no related analysis records were found on the computers at the scene. The member list involved prominent political and business figures, leading police to suspect that the backgrounds of the deceased were strong enough to provoke the shooter. Due to this past, Chester Car has long been suspected by netizens of involvement in scams and gambling. In April this year, he stated that he had reported the matter to the police and filed defamation charges.

Once Claimed to Make Big Money from Cryptocurrency Investments

In an interview with YouTuber Toutia Jiaoyuan in 2023, Yang Zhenglun openly shared his investment experience. He revealed that he lost hundreds of thousands of TWD when he first entered cryptocurrency in early 2016 because he fell into a Ponzi scheme trap and was one of the last to exit. Afterwards, he studied the mechanisms of Ponzi schemes and the principles of cryptocurrencies deeply, shifted to long-term investments in mainstream coins, and in 2017 earned 60-70 million TWD from a mining machine business. Recently, investing in Ethereum (ETH) has also yielded considerable profits.

His experience of going from losses to big gains has led him to actively participate in communities as an “investor.”

Does This Violate Banking Laws?

Some netizens raised legal concerns: does Chester Car’s promotional behavior violate the Banking Act?

Article 29-1 of the Banking Act clearly states that accepting funds from many people or unspecified persons under the guise of loans, investments, shares, or other means, and promising dividends, interest, or rewards that are not proportional to the principal, is considered accepting deposits. Only banks legally organized and registered can operate such businesses. Violators face 3 to 10 years in prison, and if the criminal proceeds exceed 100 million TWD, the penalty is increased to over 7 years.

Yongran Law Firm pointed out that such illegal activities are of a serious nature.

Doubts About Fraudulent Intent

As for whether Chester Car’s investment scheme constitutes fraud, since no “victims” have spoken out and police have not taken action, it is currently impossible to objectively determine. If the public discovers suspected scam messages, they can report via the “Internet Fraud Reporting and Inquiry Network” app, and the government will conduct investigations.