The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has received a complaint from a California resident regarding a crypto investment.
Victim #1, a front-line health care worker, and Victim #2 met with someone on the Muslim social app Salam who called herself “Anna” and exchanged numbers. This person then directed the victims onto WhatsApp where they began a friendship. Anna claimed to work for the community, orphans and doing free medical camps for the low resource populations. At some point Anna introduced the victims to crypto telling them they would never lose as her uncle worked in crypto and her cousin “Rheo” had this exchange, Voyanx and helped them set up an account. The victims transferred $2,000 to Anna who told them she would put the crypto into an account at Voyanx (through a link Anna sent). Anna claimed she would teach the victims how to trade via screenshots and claimed she could earn $1,500 a day. At some point, Anna became intimidating and told the victims to go to the bank for a loan and that she would double their money. The victims transferred another $10,000. The scammer showed screenshots that said the victims” balance was $141,219.” The victims wanted to transfer the crypto profits back into their bank accounts and contacted the Voyanx app customer service online but were told they needed to pay a $42,000 transfer fee. The victims reached out to Anna who convinced them to pay her $20,000 to help her get money from the Voyanx application, and even showed the victims a screenshot showing a successful withdrawal. When the money never actually arrived in the bank accounts, they called the app”s customer service again and were told she needed to transfer another $10,000 for an ID verification. At that point, the victims called Anna and begged for their money back. Anna said if she paid an additional $10,000 she would transfer the whole amount. Later, Victim #1 learned the scammer had hacked into her bank account and phone. The company operated the website https://VoyanX.com.
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 [email protected] 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/.