Danny Gauthier’s Appi Travels Ponzi scheme has collapsed.
On or round June thirtieth, proprietor Gauthier shut down Appi Travels’ web site.
Appi Travels’ web site area now redirects to a “web site closed” picture:
Gauthier, a Canadian citizen and resident, launched Appi Travels as a travel-themed pyramid scheme in 2016.
In 2018 Appi Travels was rebooted as a bitcoin gifting scheme. And by 2019 Gauthier (proper) had morphed Appi Travels right into a full-blown crypto Ponzi scheme.
This third Appi Travels iteration attracted Russian scammers. This noticed Gauthier, who doesn’t communicate Russian, nonetheless pivot Appi Travels’ advertising and marketing dramatically.
Gauthier even went as far as to arrange an Appi Travels vKontakte profile:
Gauthier’s Appi Journey’s Ponzi scheme spreading throughout Russia finally attracted the eye of native authorities. In October 2021 the Central Financial institution of Russia issued an Appi Travels fraud warning.
Nonetheless recruitment of latest largely Russian victims endured, till Gauthier “web site closed” exit-scammed a couple of days in the past.
On the time of its collapse, SimilarWeb ranks high sources of visitors to Appi Travels’ web site as Russia (53%), the Democratic Republic of Congo (24%), France (15%) and the US (9%).
Up to now Canadian authorities have proven no real interest in investigating Appi Travels or Gauthier.
Complete Appi Travels investor numbers and monetary losses are unknown.