The Vietnamese government is investigating what could potentially be the largest cryptocurrency scam so far as hundreds of investors were  robbed of $658 million in an allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering, according to CoinDesk. While technically all cryptocurrencies and transaction in cryptocurrencies are illegal in Vietnam, it is believed that some 32,000 people could have been affected. The losses had to do with initial coin offerings in two different virtual currencies, both of which had materials that are typical of Ponzi schemes. One, Ifan, said that investors would have no risk at all while the other, Pincoin, promised people that they could get monthly profits of 40 percent through a complex arrangement that favors earlier investors over later ones. 

In response, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued a directive instructing the State Bank of Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Securities and other bodies to tighten the "management of activities related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency," according to Reuters. Police are also investigating the company connected with the ICOs, a Vietnamese firm called Modern Tech.