Cryptocurrency broker appears to be engaged in fraud against California consumers

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has received a complaint from a California resident regarding a crypto investment.

The victim met a person calling themselves “Heitor Ryan” on the internet who claimed to work at a bank. They chatted as friends for several months, then Heitor lured the victim into investing on a crypto website that turned out to be a fraud. Victim thought they were investing in a liquidity mining pool called uniswap.llc that the person online promised would provide a high rate of return based on “tiers” according to the amount invested. The site claimed the investment would stay in U.S. dollars, thus avoiding the risk of being invested in cryptocurrency, and said the investment was perfectly safe. Victim transferred cryptocurrency into an account on the site, and the site showed him making daily returns. But when the victim tried to withdraw the funds, he was told that his wallet address was “abnormal,” and he would need put another $7,000 in to clear it up. Victim has not been able to get the $14,000 he invested back.  This company appears to be impersonating the company Uniswap Labs, which does not appear to be connected in any way with the fraudulent behavior.

This appears to be what is commonly called an “Advance Fee scheme,” which can take many forms, as discussed here:  https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/advance-fee-schemes. This also appears to be what’s known as a Social Media Scam, which is described here: https://dfpi.ca.gov/2022/05/20/romance-scams-and-crypto-assets-fact-or-fraud/

The DFPI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services.  To check whether an investment or financial service provider is licensed in California, consumers may contact the Department for questions or inquiries at ask.dfpi@dfpi.ca.gov or call toll-free at (866) 275-2677.  If a consumer believes a person or company has violated state law or acted improperly regarding a consumer financial product or service, they may file a formal complaint with the DFPI at https://dfpi.ca.gov/file-a-complaint/.