The $480 Million Scam Playbook: Chinese Microcap IPOs Are Bleeding U.S. Investors

A growing number of U.S. investors are getting caught in what looks like the perfect setup for fraudsmall Chinese companies like Jayud Global Logistics JYD and China Liberal Education (CLEUF) going public on Nasdaq, only to crash in spectacular fashion weeks later. What starts as a convincing ad on Facebook or WhatsApp quickly turns into a pump-and-dump operation. Investors like Utah-based college professor Braden Lindstrom were encouraged by supposed financial "advisers" to buy into these obscure names, only to watch their life savings vanish. Jayud, for example, spiked to $8 in April before plummeting below $1just after retail interest peaked. One commercial property manager in California lost $320,000. A support group of nearly 100 victims says their total losses top $9 million.

The playbook? Simple. A company raises funds from private investorsChina Liberal raised $21 million from 30 insidersthen shares move quietly to U.S. brokerages. Promoters hype the stock online, targeting individuals with promises of a "sure thing." After the shares are dumped, prices crash. In China Liberal's case, seven traders from Malaysia and Taiwan were charged after allegedly unloading over 50 million shares for $480 million in profit. The DOJ seized $214 million, and trading in the stock was halted by Nasdaq on June 3. Meanwhile, NetClass rode the same waveits shares soared from $5 to $51 before collapsing to just above $2.

Regulators are under pressure. Finra had already warned back in 2022 that many of these ultra-small IPOsoften raising less than $15 millionshowed signs of manipulative trading. Nasdaq has since sped up delistings for companies trading under $1. But even with stricter rules, these schemes continue. The Justice Department has now prioritized tackling this fraud, while Meta says it's testing tools to block deceptive stock ads. Still, the damage is done. As trader Nathan Michaud put it, these setups are dangerous even for short sellersbecause once the squeeze starts, even the bears can get buried.