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The Appi Travels Ponzi scheme operated by Danny Gauthier has collapsed. Around June 30th, the proprietor of Appi Travels, Gauthier, shut down the website.
The website domain of Appi Travels now leads to a “website closed” graphic.
Appi Travels, founded in 2016 by a Canadian citizen and resident, is a travel-themed pyramid scheme. Appi Travels was relaunched in 2018 as a bitcoin giving scheme.
And by the year 2019, Gauthier (right) had transformed Appi Travels into a full-fledged cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.
This third version of Appi Travels attracted Russian con artists. This resulted in Gauthier, who does not know Russian, significantly reorienting Appi Travels’ marketing.
Gauthier went so far as to create a vKontakte profile for Appi Travels.
Spreading throughout Russia, Gauthier’s Appi Travels Ponzi scheme finally caught the attention of local authorities.
In October 2021, the Central Bank of Russia issued a fraud alert about Appi Travels. However, recruitment of new, predominantly Russian victims persisted until Gauthier’s “website was closed” exit scam a few days ago.
At the time of its demise, SimilarWeb listed Russia (53 percent), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (24 percent), France (15 percent), and the United States as the top four traffic sources to Appi Travels’ website.
The Canadian government has shown no interest in pursuing Appi Travels or Gauthier as of yet. Unknown are the total number of Appi Travels investors and the financial losses.
