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Pi Network has been accused of being a scam by Bybit CEO Ben Zhou, bringing up a police notice from 2023 that calls it a ‘scam that preys on the elderly.’

In a recent post, Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou responded to a claim made by an unofficial Pi (PI) technical team account that claims the crypto exchange was “rejected by Pi” to list on its exchange. The Pi Network is a project that enables users to mine cryptocurrency through a mobile app.

“Bybit had made no listing request to PI and the claim that PI refused Bybit listing or Bybit did not pass some sort of KYB of PI is completely nonsense,” said Zhou in his post.

Zhou retaliated by bringing up a Chinese police report that was published in 2023, warning citizens about a virtual currency scam that targets the elderly through a “get rich overnight” scheme perpetrated by actors claiming to be affiliated with the Pi Network.

“Many criminals use “π Coin” to claim that they can mine for free by simply downloading an app on their mobile phones. They also give lectures to the elderly, expand the victim group by claiming that they can “recommend rebates” by developing downlines, resell user personal information, and defraud the elderly of their pensions,” wrote the Wuxi Public Security Bureau in a translated notice.

The report state that scammers would use free rewards and gifts to lure in victims who wish to gain small profits by downloading the app and promising them a small amount of Pi tokens as gift.

“They expand the victim group by rewarding people for recruiting more people, resell users’ personal information, and defraud victims of their money,” added the police bureau.

Zhou used the article as the basis for his claims, reaffirming his crypto exchange would not be listing Pi Network in the foreseeable future, unlike other major exchanges like OKX and Bitget. Even Binance has started to test the waters by holding a community vote on whether the exchange should list the Pi Network.

In an interview with crypto.news, Pi Network co-founders Dr Nicolas Kokkalis and Chengdiao Fan elaborated on Pi Network’s model and mining mechanism shortly after the launch of the project’s mainnet.

They explained that their goal is to ensure Pi remains stable by providing a fair and wide token distribution whilst facilitating real-world uses. To ensure safety on the network, they implement actions like security circles, utility-based Pi apps, running nodes and other precautions.

Additionally, Pi users, known as Pioneers, are required to undergo an identity verification process before they are able to obtain Pi .

Pi Network warns users of potential scams and bad actors

In an X post shared a few days ahead of its mainnet launch, the Pi Network warned users of the emergence of “potential bad actors and activities, scams, and individuals impersonating others” that claim to be affiliated with the project.

“Neither Pi Network, nor anyone affiliated with Pi Network, has any affiliation whatsoever with any parties organizing or engaging in such illegal or harmful activities to our users or the community,” wrote the Pi Network in its post.

The account explained that any activities that require users to pay a fee as well as actors that make “misleading promises of monetary rewards or future profits, or MLM [Multi-Level Marketing]” are not authorized by Pi Network. The protocol also urges its followers to check their official site for information on how to protect their Pi accounts and wallets.

At the time of writing, the Pi token has plummeted more than 50% in the past 24 hours. PI is currently trading hands at $0.65. The token has maintained a trading volume of $1.2 billion in the past day.