Zhang Yufeng, a senior from Shenzhen University, revealed his fraudulent activities with his real name, with more than 10 victims

Wu Says Author: Colin Wu

This article is an interview conducted by Colin, the editor-in-chief of Wu Says Blockchain, with Huang Yifeng, the senior of Zhang Yufeng at Shenzhen University, on October 12.

Zhang Yufeng was called "Little Pony Huateng" by the media, and many authoritative media reported that he donated 50 million to Shenzhen University one year after graduation. But then it was revealed that his resume was heavily falsified, and he actually did not donate, did not even graduate normally, defaulted on online loans, forged FTX employee status, etc.

But what is even more surprising is that after Zhang Yufeng gained the trust of alumni by fraudulent donations, he frequently asked for money from acquaintances around him in the name of investing in "plates" in the past year, and did not return it on time after the stipulated time expired, for which many victims even called the police. In order to prevent more people from being deceived, Huang Yifeng, Zhang Yufeng's senior at Shenzhen University, decided to stand up and expose this "professional liar" by real name. Huang Yifeng said that Zhang Yufeng claimed to have some cryptocurrency plates that could double in a few months. After the investment of his friends expired, Zhang Yufeng began to default and found many ridiculous excuses, such as being hospitalized in Hong Kong. After several victims called the police, Zhang Yufeng's parents who ran a printing factory in Dongguan helped repay part of the debt. Zhang Yufeng was warned for arrears in rent at Shenzhen Bay One. Zhang Yufeng even defaulted on an online loan of 6,000 yuan.

Background information:

1. The donor of 50 million child prodigy of Shenzhen University is full of doubts, "suspected of having delusions", claims to be the head of FTX trading, Stanford MBA, CICC McKinsey internship

2. Personal introduction of the real-name whistleblower Huang Yifeng

https://m.sohu.com/a/441625317_119038/?pvid=000115_3w_a&strategyid=00014

The following content is a summary. For the full interview and more details, please pay attention to Wu Shuo Podcast

Xiao Yuzhou Listening:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzI0ODgzMDE5MA==&mid=2247502103&idx=1&sn=4e7d3e602517c8ad588d625288296996&chksm=e9984896deefc180021e1776 3be366f358e3e59a6d6486a667c43daf88d932884f2aa926335b&token=2003093912&lang=zh_CN#rd

Youtube listening:

The interview summary is as follows:

Huang Yifeng: Let me first talk about my background. I am from Shenzhen University, Class of 2017. I am considered Zhang Yufeng's senior (Zhang Yufeng entered Shenzhen University in 2018). Zhang Yufeng and I met in 2021. At that time, I was starting a business. Then, by chance, he added me on WeChat because of some startup subsidies.

I kept chatting with him from 2021 to 2024. He often shared some things that looked impressive in his circle of friends, such as getting an offer from Sequoia and taking a photo with SBF, the founder of FTX. He even said that he became an LP of Sequoia and gave Sequoia tens of millions. He also (claimed to) bought a Ferrari. Since the beginning of 2022, he has created a very awesome image for himself.

To be fair, I am a person he knows very well, and with the background of donating 50 million to Shenzhen University, I would give such a large sum of money to such a person without signing a contract. This is probably the situation.

At the end of 23, I officially learned about or entered the cryptocurrency industry, and then I talked to Zhang Yufeng, and we kept communicating in the middle. Around May this year, he said that he had some plates with good returns, and asked me to give him 1 million, which might help me multiply it several times in a quarter and turn it into millions. In the end, he would return the money to me, and I could use it to improve my life, or to make a basic fund for a market maker.

I gave him a total of about 840,000 in the early May of this year, around the May Day holiday.

Colin: When did you find out something was wrong and ask him to return the money?

Huang Yifeng: Our normal rule is to pay me the money once a quarter. At the beginning of May, we agreed that the money should be paid back to me before July 25. He promised me that it was impossible to lose the money anyway. If it was lost, he would return the principal to me.

Colin: Why did you trust him so much without even having a contract?

Huang Yifeng: From 2002 to 2004, first of all, we were very familiar with each other and often chatted. In the end, I didn't expect that he only cheated acquaintances; second, we were all alumni of Shenzhen University; third, he donated 50 million to Shenzhen University, and I thought it couldn't be fake. Basically, the situation of all the victims is the same as mine, which is the above three reasons.

At that time, I read the report that Wu said more than five times. When I transferred the money to him in May this year, I read the report that Wu said again and again, but I still chose to believe this person in the end.

Because I thought at that time, a liar couldn't cheat for so long, from 2002 to now. His information, identity, and background are very consistent. I saw a lot of negative news, but I didn't believe it at the time.

Colin: So when did you start to doubt?

Huang Yifeng: It was when he postponed the repayment of the principal. Because we agreed on July 25 for the first phase, he took the initiative to tell me that the market was not very good recently and there was a little less, so we postponed it to August 20. In mid-July, one of his childhood friends sent a tweet, and then slowly, many victims contacted that key person, and I knew the whole story.

There are about ten known victims like me, and the timeline is roughly from September 2023. The known amount is more than 3 million. As far as I know, most of the principal of most people has been returned, but there are still at least 200,000 people who have not received it because this person has been chasing them.

In fact, someone has already called the police. At that time, there was a debt of about 1 million yuan that Zhang Yufeng owed to his college classmate, and then the person called the police. The police went directly to Zhang Yufeng's house, and then Zhang Yufeng's family paid back the 1 million yuan. Some of the victims were his childhood friends, friends who had been close since high school and went on graduation trips together. His family does run a printing factory.

Colin: How does Zhang Yufeng create his personal image?

Huang Yifeng: He is a professional liar. From 22 years to now, he has been creating this kind of persona, that is, he is very rich, such as Stanford's admission certificate, such as his OKX account, which has tens of millions of U, and he often shows it to people.

I think his paranoia is beyond doubt. He also said that he met Musk and is one of the top ten shareholders of Tesla.

I went to his home in Shenzhen No. 1. He told me at first that he bought it, but later I found out that he rented it. Finally, I found out that he owed rent and was given a ticket.

Around the time he donated in 23 years, he already owed 6,000 yuan in online loans. He filled in the phone number of a childhood friend as his emergency contact, and the online loan company called his childhood friend.

I think Shenzhen University was also deceived (fraudulent donation). Before the donation, the dean of their college also invited Zhang Yufeng to give some speeches. He talked about the road to financial freedom and how to get an offer from Sequoia.

Colin: Why did you come out to expose him?

Huang Yifeng: If I don’t expose him, more people will definitely be deceived. In fact, there are many small episodes in the middle. For example, he asked me to go to Hong Kong, and then asked me to go to Singapore, but he canceled my application. When he couldn’t pay back the money, he said that he had myocarditis and went to Hong Kong for hospitalization. The medical examination fee was 50,000 yuan, and the hospitalization fee was 100,000 yuan. His private plane was cancelled because of this, and the deposit of 100,000 yuan was deducted. His father was in the ICU with myocarditis. His mother was sick again, and he made all kinds of excuses to push it.

His ancestral home is Meizhou, but he is from Dongguan. He only cheated people around him, only the people he knew best. It's really too exaggerated. Some of his internships were bought, and some of them may be fabricated. There are still two transfer records for purchasing internships.

According to a friend, at least two groups of people came to his parents to ask for money. His father didn't want to pay it back. He thought that his son's ability to cheat money was his ability, and he just didn't want to mess with him. His father had this mentality. His mother might be kinder. In a year, she paid back the money bit by bit.

Colin: Actually, this matter is not complicated. Zhang Yufeng may have some delusions. He has no money to spend, and his family doesn't give him money, so he goes to ask people around him to find an excuse to borrow money.

Huang Yifeng: I think so, but there are some very bad parts in the process, such as only deceiving people around him, which is somewhat against human nature. I have always been curious about how many people he deceived when he opened Knowledge Planet. The podcast that the employees of Deribit made about him also deceived many people.