Crypto Scam Tracker
Search the table below by company name, scam type, or keywords to learn about the specific complaints the DFPI has received. Use this information to protect yourself when engaging in crypto transactions. Below the table is a glossary explaining the structures for common scams.
About the Tracker
The scams in this tracker are based on consumer complaints. They represent descriptions of losses incurred in transactions that complainants have identified as part of a fraudulent or deceptive operation. The DFPI has not verified the losses reported by complainants. As new scams emerge, the DFPI will update this list on an ongoing basis to alert and protect the public. If you hear about a scam that is not listed here, please let us know by filing a complaint.
A Note on Imposters: Imposter websites are one of the most common reported scams. The companies or websites listed may sound similar to the names of other companies or websites that also operate in the marketplace. When companies or websites (fake or not) have look- or sound-alike names, the potential confusion created for consumers is real.
Attempting to take advantage of such confusion is a tactic employed by some bad actors looking to profit from unsuspecting consumers. The best way to avoid falling victim to a phony company or website is to do research on the company before you invest or send money.
You can sort by each column, or filter the list by entering any part of a column’s content in the Search field.
| Primary Subject | Complaint Narrative | Scam Type | Other Subjects | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydefieco | The victim was contacted by “George” about a cryptocurrency investment, promising that if she invested $250,000 and the company reached the investment goal, the victim could qualify for seven Ethereum tokens. Not only did the victim lose the $250,000, but the scammers were able to steal another $40,000 from the victim’s wallet. Scammers then told victim she needed to invest another $310,000 by a certain date to get their money back. The company operated a website at https://www.hydefieco.com. | Liquidity Mining Scam Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Advanced Fee Scam | Fan Zhang (aka George) Sophie | https://www.hydefieco.com |
| OS Option Exchange | The victim thought he was investing in cryptocurrency through the website osoptionsexhchange.com and sent U.S. dollars. Scammers provided screen shots showing profits, but when victim tried to withdraw the money, he lost all contact with company. | Fraudulent Trading Platform | https://osoptionexchange.com/ | |
| Tahoe Digital Exchange (Ta.hoe) | The victim met a woman he thought was in love with him. After victim shared his dream of wanting to buy a motor home and travel, the scammer convinced him she could help him reach his goal through cryptocurrency. The victim gave the scammer $64,000 to invest in Tahoe Digital Exchange. The scammer then told him his investment was now worth almost $200,000. But when the victim tried to transfer the money out, Tahoe Digital Exchange told him he needed to pay more than $30,000 in taxes. After that, Tahoe Digital Exchange asked for another $20,000 for him to get his money back. The victim had no more money, so Tahoe Digital Exchange froze his assets, and he never heard from the woman again. The company operated a website at https://Tahoe-dex.com/dist. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Romance Scam | http://tahoe-dex.com/ https://Tahoe-dex.com/dist |
|
| HODL Soft Ltd | The victim met a man online, and they began a relationship. After talking about the future, the scammer told her that for a better retirement she should invest in Hodlsofltd.com. Victim transferred money into a cryptocurrency exchange and then invested in the website. She was told she needed to keep her money there for four months before she could withdraw. She could view her account statement online showing large returns. However after four months, when she tried to withdraw her money, the company starting making excuses for not giving her money back. The company operated a website at https://HodlSoftLtd.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Romance Scam | https://HodlSoftLtd.com https://hodlsoftltd.com/education.html |
|
| FUN ETH | The victim met “Yun Wang” on the Facebook Dating App. She got him interested in Ethereum cryptocurrency mining and sent him a link for a company in which he could invest, fun-eth.com. Victim opened a Coinbase wallet and transferred money to fun-eth.com with Yun Wang’s encouragement. He believed he had profits of more than $14,000, but then his money disappeared. The company operated the websites at https://fun-eth.com and https://eth-fun.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Romance Scam | Yun Wang (FB: Facebook.com/yun.wang.56863221) | www.fun-eth.com |
| Privmoney Private Money | The company, Private Money, advertises itself as a private crypto wallet available at https//privmoney.com. A California resident deposited 18 Bitcoin, and now cannot withdraw. | Fraudulent Trading Platform | Privmoney.com | |
| MicroStrategy US (Entity impersonating MicroStrategy) | The victim participated in a livestream event on YouTube where subject offered “2 for 1 airdrop of Bitcoin or Ethereum, i.e., any Send will be returned with twice the Receive, up to 25000 ETH & 5000 BTC” for 24 hours. Victim sent 3 ETH and received a message from a Chat agent (translated from Russian as “Thanks for allowing me to eat.”) Victim then realized it was a scam. The company operated a website at https://airdrop-strategy.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Livestream Scam Advanced Fee Scam Imposter Scam | https://airdrop-strategy.com/ https://www.youtube.com/user/ralowe666 |
|
| https://mobile.coinbaseltdus.com/ (Entity impersonating Coinbase-related entity) | The victim was contacted by “Lotus Nina Ivanovna” who said she could help with cryptocurrency trading. Victim transferred coins from legitimate crypto brokerages to the scam site: https://mobile.coinbaseltdus.com/pc.html. Afterward, victim received a message on the website claiming her account was locked for verification and that she needed to transfer more money to the account to unlock. Victim then realized it was a scam. The company operated a website at https://mobile.coinbaseltdus.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Romance Scam Imposter Scam | Lotus Nina | https://mobile.coinbaseltdus.com/pc.html |
| OBFX Global | The victim accepted a Friend Request on Facebook from “Alvin Robel.” After exchanging pleasantries, “Alvin” asked to move the chat to WhatsApp where victim thought they were developing a relationship. After a few months, Alvin brought up trading cryptocurrencies as a way to help achieve financial goals. Alvin instructed the victim how to set up accounts on legitimate crypto platforms like crypto.com and the MetaTrader5 platform. Alvin said they could earn $10 million trading together and told victim she could buy a villa in Croatia. Victim even took out loans to facilitate the aggressive trading goals Alvin had set. Alvin even claimed to have injected his own money into the account after the victim tried to trade on her own. Finally, Alvin told the victim the account was worth $1.25 million, and he was going to fly out to California to meet her. He then claimed he was in San Francisco, but had to quarantine due to COVID. At that point, victim was contacted by a “broker” who told her she needed to $95 in capital gains taxes to get the money out. After she paid that, the “broker” claimed the victim owed “spread fees” of $35,000. Victim has given more than $245,000 to the scammer including money taken out as loans borrowed from family and friends. The company operated a website at https://obgfx.cc. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | https://obgfx.cc/ |
|
| Uniswap.LLC (Entity impersonating Uniswap Ltd.) | 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. The company operated the websites at https://Uniswap.org. | Fraudulent Trading Platform Pig Butchering Scam Liquidity Mining Scam Imposter Scam | Hector Ryan (or Heitor Ryan) | https://uniswap.llc/ |
| VoyanX.com | 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 crypt 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. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Voyanx.com/ | |
| Penzo Limited | The victim was contacted by an individual through Facebook promising great returns in cryptocurrency investing. Victim wired funds to Coinbase to purchase cryptocurrency, then sent that to the MetaTrader5 platform through his mobile device. The scammer showed a demo example where a $100,000 investment could earn profits of $11,000. The scammer showed victim pictures of her lavish lifestyle and said she could help him achieve success. Then the scammer walked the victim through a step-by-step process, transferring his money into the scammer’s account on the platform, then sending screenshots showing she had earned $200,000. The scammer then asked the victim if he wanted to transfer even more money. At that point, he became concerned asked for his money back. The scammer told him he had lost all his money and it was his fault for making bad trades. In all, the victim was scammed out of $10,000. The company operated the website https://penzolead.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | https://penzolead.com | |
| Wintermute (Entity Impersonating https://www.wintermute.com/) | Victim met someone calling herself “Rosalie” on WhatsApp, who introduced him to eth-Wintermute.net, telling the victim this would generates dividends on liquidity pools every 6 hours based on the amount of money put into the MetaMask app wallet. The scammer walked the victim through the process where he downloaded the BinanceUS and MetaMask apps on his phone, then used the MetaMask browser to connect to eth-wintermute.net Victim transferred approximately $130,000 over the course of a few days. Then Rosalie pressured victim to change to an escrow contract, to “lock in his profits” for 7 days, earning higher interest once a day, instead of every 6 hours. After the showed his investment was worth more than $167,170 the victim tried to withdraw but Rosalie, and the “customer support” person on the app, told him he needed to deposit another $84,000 in order to withdraw the full amount. Now, his $167,170 in the DAPP app, and he cannot withdraw it. He contacted the legitimate platform Wintermute.com, who told him that eth-wintermute.net is not part of Wintermute and is not connected with them. Thus, the scammers impersonated the real Wintermute.com's website to fool the victim. | Fraudulent Trading Platform Pig Butchering Scam Imposter Scam | Rosalie | http://eth-wintermute.net/ |
| Unison FX Limited | The victim met “Yuna Li”, who also called herself “Alicia” on Instagram. Alicia said she resided in West Hollywood, and after chatting for a few days, Alicia told the victim they could make money by trading Ethereum on the Meta Trader 5 (MT5) platform. Alicia said she could get inside information (known as trading signals) from her Uncle working in finances. She told the victim they would only trade when her uncle gave her the signal. Alicia showed the victim how to wire transfer funds to crypto.com and then send to a broker at UNISON FX LIMITED through MT5. Alicia alerted the victim on Instagram when to buy and sell, open a position and setup the take profit limit. After a few weeks, Alicia told the victim he had made around $200,000. At some point the victim tried to withdraw $100,000, as Unison showed he had a balance of approximately $430,000. At that point, the victim’s MT5 app was hacked and his entire account was wiped out. Unison refused any withdrawal and blocked him out of his account. Then Alicia blocked the victim on Instagram and vanished. The victim lost approximately $230,000. The company operated a website at https:// www.unisonfx.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Yuna Li (Alicia) | https://unisonfx.com/ |
| Reliable Option Trade | The victim met “Mrs. Linda” and they communicated through WhatsApp. At some point, Linda convinced the victim to open an account with Reliable Option Trade and told him to deposit $500. Victim then got a message from the company’s Support Team saying he could get Bitcoin if he deposited another $1,000 into his account. Then he was asked to deposit another $3,500 but he told them he didn’t have that amount, so they convinced him to invest $2,000 instead. Later he was told his account was worth $24,000 so the victim decided to withdraw his money. He filled out the withdrawal form and submitted it, then got a call from broker who offered to trade for the victim so he could make more money. The broker advised him to download the Trust Wallet app, which he did. Now he cannot get his money out of the Trust Wallet, and he is still being asked by the broker to put in more money. The company operated a website at https://www.reliableoptiontrade.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Advanced Fee Scam | Mrs. Linda (Ph: +1 (323) 328-5265) | www.reliableoptiontrade.com |
| RB Hood (Entity impersonating a Robinhood-related entity) | The victim met a woman calling herself “Jiang Yingying” on social media and they communicated on WhatsApp, Telegram, and through text messaging. At some point, Jiang convinced him to open a crypto account, so he transferred $500 from his debit card, then transferred the cryptocurrency to a Chinese exchange at first called rbhoodc.com, but later it changed its name to rbhoodz.com, then changed again to rbhoodd.xyz. The victim even got a loan for $13,000 which he also deposited into rbhoodc.com through his Crypto.com account. Jiang kept saying he was making money and should add more capital, so he got another $9,500 loan and wired it to Coinbase. At some point, the victim tried to withdraw some of the money, but Jiang told him he had to pay taxes. Victim then spoke to a customer service agent at the exchange who also told him he had to pay taxes on the money before he could withdraw it. The company operated the websites at https://rbhoodc.com; rbhoodz.com; and rbhoodd.xyz. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Imposter Scam | Jiang Yingying (Ph: 530-358-5545 626-210-3055) | http://rbhoodc.com/ http://rbhoodz.com/ http://rbhoodd.xyz/ |
| Dilong Trading Limited Affirm Rich Trading Company Limited | The victim met “Gina Lee’ online who asked him to wire money to the Meta Trader 5 platform to trade cryptocurrency through Dilong Trading Limited. Then his bank called and warned him it’s possibly a fraud scheme. Victim lost $120,000. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Gina Lee | |
| Infinity Option | The victim met “Mike Vestil” on Instagram. They talked and at some point Mike told her she could make money investing. He introduced her to “Jason Brandon”, who offered to show her how to trade Bitcoin to make money. Jason instructed her to start a plan with a minimum of $500-$1000 for 5-7 days trade. The victim transferred Bitcoin into Jason’s wallet at infinityoptions.net. After that, Jason asked for more money and said if the victim didn’t pay she wouldn’t be able to get her money back. The victim lost $18,000. The company operated a website at https://www.InfinityOption.net. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Mike Vestil | http://infinityoption.net/ |
| GE Chains | The victim was referred by a friend to gechains.com, a cryptocurrency trading platform. Victim opened an account, and started trading with a small amount of money, but then got a call from “Betty” an associate at GE Chains, who asked the victim to put more money into the trading account, so the victim deposited $5,000 more into account. Betty pushed him again to put more money in, so he deposited $5,000 more. Then a week later Betty asked him to deposit another $10,000. This time, the victim said no, and was told his account was suspended. The victim asked to withdraw his money, and after about a week Betty agreed he could withdraw his money if he paid commissions to her of 20% . She also told him his account balance had grown to more than $28,000 and the commissions would be based on that amount. The victim borrowed more than $5,600 from a friend to pay for it , but still couldn’t withdraw his money. Betty then told her to get his friend, who also had not been able to withdraw money, to put more money in, then they both could withdraw together. The victim pleaded with Betty to let him withdraw his money, so she put him in contact with the “service department” where he talked to “Susie” who told him he to pay a tax 15%, or more than $4,200, within a few days or else his account would be permanently frozen, and his account would be turned over to a “monetary authority” who would sue him for his money. The company operated the website https://GEChains.com. | Fraudulent Trading Platform | https://gechains.com/ | |
| Tony Alin Trading Firm | The victim said that Tony Alin Berker asked them for $6,000 to invest, saying there would be no other fees. Then, Tony asked the victim for another $11,000 to “merge the accounts.” Then Tony said the victim needed to $8,100 for IRS fees. The victim paid Tony all the money, and he promised the victim they would get $270,000. But the victim never received anything back. Victim also said a good friend also lost $48,000 to Tony Alin Berker. The company operated a website at https://www.tonyalinberker.com. | Fraudulent Trading Platform Advanced Fee Scam | Tony Alin Berker | https://tonyalinberker.com/ |
| MUFG Pro | The victim met “Dylan Lee” on Zoosk and started communicating with him on WhatsApp. Dylan told the victim he invested in Bitcoin and invited her to invest. The victim made an initial investment of $3,000. Dylan then told the victim her account was now worth $250,00 with interest. Dylan told the victim to withdraw the money from MUFG Pro, but they told the victim she had to pay $42,000 in taxes. Then MUFG Pro told the victim her account was frozen and she had to pay $32,00 to unfreeze it. After she paid that, she was told to pay more money to a third party to deal with another issue with her account. Victim finally realized it was a scam. The company operated the websites at https://www.mu-fgpro.info and Mufg-Pro.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Advanced Fee Scam | Dylan Lee | https://www.mu-fgpro.info/ |
| Trade 1960 | Victim was contacted on Instagram by “Stefanie Kammerman” who said she lived in Las Vegas. Stefanie directed the victim to buy Bitcoin and open a trading account with www.trade1960.com. But when he wanted to take some money out, Stefanie said he had to wait 6 months to withdraw. The victim then emailed www.support@trade1960.com and was told he needed to pay a broker fee of $3,500 in bitcoin. Now he wants his money back. The company operated a website at https://www.trade1960.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Stefanie Kammerman | https://trade1960.com/ |
| Rakuten OPD (Entity impersonating Rakuten) | The victim met “Aimee Liu Jing” online on the dating site OkCupid. Aimee asked to continue the conversation on WhatsApp. Aimee then offered to teach the victim about trading digital assets. The victim purchased cryptocurrency through the Coinbase platform and then transferred money to an App which victim thought was associated with a legitimate company. Victim transferred more than $1 million in 10 different transactions, as directed by Aimee. At some point, Aimee told the victim that the market was unstable, and he should withdraw all the money. But when he tried to withdraw a small amount, the wallet app asked him to confirm his identity and provide identification, which he did, using his US passport as identification. He also provided his bank information for the deposit. He then received a text from the wallet app customer service saying he needed to pay taxes of more than $300,000 to the IRS up front. The victim became suspicious and asked if he could just have the taxes deducted from the withdrawal. He was told the app did not have the authority to deduct taxes. The victim then asked to cancel the withdrawal but was told he couldn’t do that either. Instead, the wallet app customer service said he needed to pay the taxes within 7 days and provided an address. The victim reached out to Aimee and asked her about this practice, and she said she has been using this app for many years, and that he should pay his taxes like a good citizen. Aimee also pressured him to obtain loans to pay the taxes. The victim reports he has no luck getting his money back from the wallet app, and that Aimee continues to contact him. The company operated the website at https://rakutenetopd.com/h5. This is not to be confused with the company Rakuten Group, Inc. | Pig Butchering Scam Imposter Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Romance Scam | Aimee Liu (Liu Jing) | rakutenetopd.com/h5 |
| DCEX Exchange | The victim transferred more than $1,400,000 from Coinbase to an app-based cryptocurrency trading platform. Victim was able to withdraw more than $45,000. Victim then executed multiple trades through that platform and believed approximately $8-9 million was in the account. But when the victim asked the platform to move the funds back to Coinbase, he was told that the funds were frozen, and that he needed to deposit approximately $600,000 as “verification” that the funds were not laundered. Victim has not been able to withdrawal any more funds and now believes that the platform is a fraud. The company operated a website at https://www. dcex-exchange.com. | Fraudulent Trading Platform | dcex-exchange.com https://www.dcex-exchange.com/mobile/index.html |
|
| ZC Exchange | The victim met “Nisa Gacias (aka Champion)” online who introduced to investing in cryptocurrency. He started by transferring $25,000 to the crypto trading platform ZC Exchange, then added $100,000 more. Everything seemed to be fine during this time and as he believed his investment was growing in value, he continued to put in more money. At some point, the victim believed his account held $1.2 million Tether, and he decided to withdraw some money. He was then told before he could withdraw, he needed to pay taxes of $187,000.00 to the trading platform. When the victim asked for an extension to pay, he was told there would be an additional charge of $8,000. Victim refinanced his house and paid the taxes and fee, thinking he would get his money from the investment back. But the company only demanded more money to liberate his funds, so he had to borrow more money from relatives. Despite paying the money, the company still didn't allow him to withdraw funds and kept demanding more funds. So far, the victim has paid more than $400,000 on top of the money he invested. He is only able to communicate online with ZC Exchange’s customer service and cannot get ahold of a live person. Meanwhile, Nisa encouraged him to pay the company so he can get his funds back. The company operated the websites at https://zcorg01.com and https://FTXbuy66.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Nisa Gacias (aka Christine Champion) (Telegram: @Nisa556396) (8526 597 8048) | Zcorg01.com FTXbuy66.com |
| Rui Win Capitals LTD | The victim was introduced to “Enze Zhao” in a WeChat group. Zhao told the victim he was interested in her, and they continued to communicate. The victim gradually fell in love, believing she and Zhao shared many interests and values. Zhao told the victim he was an economics major and his hobby is to earn extra money through Rui Win Capitals LTD. Zhao convinced the victim they had a future together, but wanted her to do better financially, so they could build a house together in the Bay area. Zhao then suggested he could teach the victim to invest Gold Dollars on Meta Traders 5 through Rui Win. She put in $500,000, and Zhao told her she had completed a deal successfully and now had more than a million. But, she was told she had to pay 20% tax on the profit. She paid, but still couldn't get her money back. Then the Rui Win customer service suggested that if she sent in 10% of her balance, she would become a VIP and get all her money back. So, she sent in the 10% of what she thought was her online balance, more than $130,000 believing she would become a VIP. Then the customer service claimed that the platform had stopped functioning and she would have to wait for it to reopen. Meanwhile, Zhao asked her to keep sending him money to help him from getting into trouble, or he would go to jail. Eventually, Zhao stopped contacting the victim, she could no longer contact customer service at Rui Win, and she has lost close to $1 million. | Pig Butchering Scam Romance Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Enze Zhao | |
| Sun Bit Proa | The victim reported a multilayered scam operation orchestrated by Sunbitproa.com where she transferred approximately 13 Ethereum via a Binance wallet. The company operated the website at https://SunBitProa.com. | Fraudulent Trading Platform | https://sunbitproa.com/ | |
| Entity Impersonating Singapore International Monetary Exchange Limited or Singapore Internal Financial Exchange (SIMEX/SGX) | Victim reported meeting “Li Xiao” on LinkedIn, who then suggested they move further communication onto the Line app. There, Li Xiao claimed that she could offer advice on how to trade Binary Options through cryptocurrency and sent an invite link onto the platform. However, instead of downloading an app, the platform asked Victim to download a “configuration profile” onto his Apple device. Victim believed they were dealing with the Singapore International Monetary Exchange Limited, or Simex. Victim transferred approximately $480,000 worth of cryptocurrency from crypto.com to Simex in eight transactions. Victim was able to withdraw various small amounts from $100 to $2,500, but when he tried to withdraw $500,000 his request was rejected. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Imposter Scam | Li Xiao Marcella Arias | https://simexkyc.com/#/home www.simexrue.com simexyum.com simexdef.com/app |
| Yong Ying Global Investments Co limited | The first victim was contacted on WhatsApp by a stranger claiming they worked for an investment firm called "Yong Ying Global Investment Co." The stranger convinced the victim to wire money using the Meta5 trading platform to purchase crypto currency. Essentially, the victim wired more than $450,000, believing that the money was being put into an investment account. At some point, the victim tried to withdraw the money, but was told he was locked out of his account. Then the stranger blocked him on WhatsApp. The second victim met a woman on WhatsApp named “Li Sa” and they became friends. Eventually, she offered to show him how to trade foreign exchange on the Meta trader 5 platform and had him register at www.fix-yongying.com. Over a period of months, the victim made multiple transfers of cryptocurrency to the platform and believed he was had made profits of more than $180,000, At some point, the platform informed the victim they had blocked his account and he would need to pay taxes before he could withdraw any money. The company operated the website at fx-yongying.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Li Sa (WhatsApp: 1-623-268-4052) | fx-yongying.com |
| CoinMicro.org | Two separate victims reported meeting a person on dating app “Coffee Meets Bagel,” who then asked to move the chat to WhatsApp, where the victims believed they were beginning a relationship. The scammer claimed to be rich and could teach each victim how to trade cryptocurrency. Both victims sent money to this person to purchase cryptocurrency and were told the money would be invested in CoinMicro. Victim #1 gave $30,000, and then continued to give money. At some point, victim #1 tried to withdraw the money, but was told they needed to pay a 15% tax upfront to withdraw the funds. Victim #2 invested more than $200,000 and only learned it was a scam from a friend. The company operated a website at https://www.coinmicro.org. | Liquidity Mining Scam Pig Butchering Scam | Xue Li | CoinMicro.org |
| Entity Impersonating CME Group/XCME TEAM | The victim met “Mia” on WhatsApp who told him about an investment opportunity he thought was related to the Chicago Merchant Exchange. Victim was directed by the online stranger to send money to a website. Victim invested nearly $25,000 and was emailed account statements from cme.authority@gmail.com showing he had made profits of nearly $100,000. When the victim tried to withdraw funds, he received an email stating he needed to pay another $24,000 in taxes to release the funds. The company also claimed penalties would be charged if the taxes weren’t paid on time. Victim became suspicious that the company was using a gmail.com email address and realized he had been scammed for approximately $60,000 total. The company operated the websites at https://cmecrypto.com; cme886.cuz; cmebuy.com; and xcmerde3.top. | Pig Butchering Scam Liquidity Mining Scam Romance Scam Imposter Scam | Mia | cmecrypto.com cme886.cuz cmebuy.com xcmerde3.top |
| Coin Trade Mining | The victim, a new mom, saw a person on Tik Tok discussing passive income opportunities, and sent a message to her. The woman on Tik Tok messaged her back and they continued to communicate via WhatsApp. The woman on Tik Tok told her about a website called Cointrade Mining and sent the victim screenshots on how to open an account on the site. The woman on Tik Tok told the victim to download an App called Strike and deposit money on it by following a QR code. The victim did, but the app showed her balance was zero. The woman on Tik Tok told the victim to use Cash App instead, so the victim sent more money. Then the woman on Tik Tok gave the victim a Bitcoin address to send the money to, telling the victim to invest big and earn big money. But then the Bitcoin went to zero as well. So the woman on Tik Tok told her to go the nearest Bitcoin ATM and deposit money there, following the screenshots provided. The woman on Tik Tok then told the victim her that her investment on the Cointrade Mining website was worth more than $28,000. But when she tried to withdraw the money from the platform, an Account Manager named “Frank” told her she had to pay maintenance fees and taxes before she could withdraw her money. After that, more “Account Managers” told her she needed to deposit more money to get her money out. The company operated the website at https://www.cointrademining.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform High Yield Investment Program | https://cointrademining.com | |
| CoinList Ro (Entity Impersonating CoinList Pro) | The victim opened an account at what he believed was a legitimate crypto exchange platform, but instead dealt with a platform using a similar name, coinlistro.com. Victim believed he was day-trading on that platform and eventually the website showed he had a balance of more than $95,000. At that point, he asked to withdraw his funds through the customer service portal. He received a message saying he needed to pay a 10% withdrawal fee within 7 days. The victim sent approximately $9,000 to the platform. He then received an email thanking him for paying the fees, but that he now needed to pay capital gains taxes of 38% to the IRS, but they would agree to pay 8% of that. The victim went back and forth a few times about why he couldn’t pay the taxes to the IRS directly, and eventually decided not to pay the money. Then the company sent another email saying it withdrew its offer to pay 8% and that he needed to send the full 38% for taxes, plus another $4,000 late fee within 10 days, and that he needed to provide: a Photo ID; a Social Security or tax ID number; and his tax returns for last year or any previous year. The email went on to say that if the victim failed to pay taxes within 10 days, his account assets would be permanently frozen, and he would face penalties including criminal charges and that he could face five years in prison, and a fine of up to $250,000. The company operated the websites at https://m.coinlist.vip/home and https://m.coinlistro.com. This is not to be confused with the company CoinList Pro which operates a website at coinlist.co. | Fraudulent Trading Platform Imposter Scam | https://m.coinlist.vip/home https://m.coinlistro.com |
|
| Coindcx.win (Entity Impersonating CoinDCX) | The victim was involved in a scam where she lost $87,000.00. She began communicating with a group of “friends” through text message, who then connected her to a telegram group. Over the telegram group, the “friends” texted each other for almost a month just to have conversations about world events. At some point, one of the friends shifted the conversation to stock and market conditions. The friend showed the group her investments in crypto with screenshots and a website they could use to trade Bitcoin. She showed them how to set up an account at the website https://coindcx.win wherein they could create an account and learn how to trade without using real money. During this period, the “friend” told the victim she was making a consistent profit of 20% on her trial investments and encouraged her to put in real money. She was able to withdraw small amounts and began to put in more money, approximately $87,000 in total. When the website showed her account balance $299,000, the victim tried to withdraw the money. Instead, she was told that her account was frozen, and she would have to deposit the additional funds to unfreeze it and withdraw any money. The company operated the websites at https://coindcx.win. This is not to be confused with the website https://coindcx.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Imposter Scam | https://coindcx.win | |
| Coinworldage.com Coinworldlin.com (Entity Impersonating Coin World) | The victim opened an account on this website after being referred by a friend “Lisa.” She was subsequently contacted by “Roman” who, communicating through Line Chat, told the victim he was an expert in economics, and could teach her step by step how to make money. During the next few weeks Roman convinced her to put in as much money as she could, including borrowing money from friends or taking out a loan if necessary. Eventually, the victim invested her life savings of more than $500,000 - including her IRA and retirement- through the website. At one point, her account showed a balance of more than $1.2 million. But then the victim was unable to log in to her account. She received a message from customer service saying her account was frozen, and she needed to deposit 30% of her account balance (more than $380,000) into her account within 30 days or she would never be able to get her money back. The victim was then notified that her identify had been stolen, and her phone number and gmail account had been transferred to another individual. She heard from her bank that a person was trying to wire money out of her bank account into a cryptocurrency exchange. Eventually, the victim was able to recover her phone number and gmail account and log back into her account, but she was told her money was still frozen and she only had 20 days to deposit the $300,000 or she would lose her money. The company operated the websites at coinworldage.com and coinworldlin.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Imposter Scam | Lisa Wang Roman ( 鈡云飛) | Coinworldage.com Coinworldlin.com |
| coinbasetv.com (Entity Impersonating Coinbase) | The victim met “Chris Martin” on the Facebook Dating app. They exchanged text messages and then moved the conversation to Telegram. At some point, “Chris” suggested that the victim invest in crypto currency. The victim transferred a small amount of money to Coinbase and Crypto.com, and then forwarded the crypto currency to the coinbasetv website to test the site and practice trading. Chris helped the victim through the process and also showed her his assets in his own accounts and the victim believed everything was legitimate. After a few weeks, the victim had transferred approximately $280,000 to the website. But when she tried to withdraw money, she was told she needed to pay a fee before she could withdraw the money. When she didn’t pay, they threatened to prosecute her for money laundering. She continues to communicate with Chris, who tells her everything will be okay and that she should get a loan to pay the fee to release the funds. The company operated the website at https://coinbasetv.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Imposter Scam | Chris Martin | coinbasetv.com |
| Coin FTX (Entity Impersonating FTX) | The victim was communicating with “Mr. Colin Rusch” and “Ms. Anne” in a WhasApp group that claimed to be investors in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin and Ethereum. The group connected the victim to the website coinftx.io, which they claimed was an international crypto market. The group offered to show her an investing plan where they tell everyone when to buy crypto and when they had made money. After a while. “Ms. Anne” asked to increase the amount of capital she had invested to make even more money. After 2 or 3 months the victim had invested more than $50,000, and believed her account was worth approximately $200,000, but when she tried to withdraw her money she was unable to. The company operated the website at https://coinftx.io. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Imposter Scam | "Mr. Colin Rusch" "Ms. Anne" | https://coinftx.io |
| bxbcc.com | The victim received a WhatsApp invitation link text to join a trading group called BTC Investment. Victim contacted the group admin “Hannah” who helped her set up her account with bxbcc.com. Victim then transferred $500 and started trading with the group. Victim thought things were going well for a couple weeks and even withdrew some money just to be sure. “Hannah” then pressured her to increase her investment to make more profits, so the victim increased her investment to $5,000. Victim then tried to withdraw more money, but Hannah told her that the funds were frozen until the program ended the following month. Victim really needed the money, so she reached out to the website’s customer service, who told her she would have to pay 5% of her total funds for taxes to withdraw her money. The company operated the website at https://bxbcc.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Group Text invitation link Hannah (group admin) | bxbcc.com |
| Coinbase.ii36vip (Entity impersonating Coinbase) | The victim met a person on WeChat who convinced her to invest in cryptocurrency mining. Victim followed scammer’s instructions to transfer $12,000 to a cryptocurrency exchange, and then to the site coinbase.iii36.vip to begin mining. Victim tried to withdraw money from her account but was told she needed to wait 24 hours. Soon after, she got notice that all her cryptocurrency had been transferred out of her crypto wallet. The company operated a website at https://coinbase.ii36.vip. This is not to be confused with the company Coinbase that operates the website www.coinbase.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Imposter Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | https://coinbase.ii36vip | |
| 247 Crypto Base | The victim complained that they invested Bitcoin in this company that operates the website https://247cryptobase.com and lists a phony California address. Now the victim believes the company is a scam and wants a refund. | Pig Butchering Scam Liquidity Mining Scam Imposter Scam | https://247cryptobase.com | |
| Fitbela Epro Limited (Fitbela) | The victim joined a trading blog on social media where he met “Mr. Charlie” and “Tina” claiming to be from Fitbela Epro Limited (“Fitbela”), a Forex currency trading company, located in the United Kingdom. Mr. Charlie and Tina convinced the victim to open a Forex trading account on the Meta 5 Trading platform, promising high returns. The victim sent $10,000 and was told that his account had quickly increased in value and was encouraged to invest even more, eventually investing $92,000, wiring the money from his bank account as Mr. Charlie and Tina directed. After he was told his investment was worth $200,000, the victim requested a full withdrawal of the funds in his account. At that point, he was told he needed to pay $87,000 in taxes before he could receive the funds. The victim now believes it was a scam. The company operated the websites at https://fitbela.org; https://fitbelaepro.com.tw; https://fitbela.com; and https://fitbela.xyz. | Pig Butchering Scam Liquidity Mining Scam Imposter Scam | Charlie Tina | fitbela.org fitbelaepro.com.tw fitbela.com fitbela.xyz |
| ANTRUSH ANTEN PTY LTD | The victim was contacted via Instagram by “Anna” who complimented her about a music video she posted. They struck up a conversation which continued for a few weeks with daily contacts about shared interests - including cryptocurrencies. At one point, “Anna” sent a screenshot of her Forex trading account, which contained a huge amount of money, and offered to help the victim trade, promising she could make enough profit to fund her next album. The victim set up an account with Anna’s guidance, at a broker she recommended. Anna then walked her through a demo trade. The victim made several deposits, totaling approximately $60,000 in both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Anna then convinced her she had made a very successful trade. They stayed in touch, talking about other things, and then one day Anna mentioned they could make even more money by using “referral codes.” She then directed the victim to set up another account in her husband's name to trade at the same time. The victim funded this new account with another $16,000 or so. After that, Anna would let the victim know every other week or so that it was time to trade again, and then tell her she had made another large profit. But the victim noticed she was hearing from Anna less and less. The victim decided to take out some of the profits, but website said it would take 24 hours to process. After waiting the 24 hours, the victim was told she needed “Advanced Verification” and asked to provide a government ID. The victim waited another 48 hours, then was told it could take two weeks. She waited the two weeks, but her request was rejected. After resubmitting photos of her ID, and waiting another two weeks, the company’s help chat box stopped responding. The victim contacted Anna, but never heard from her again. She then realized her money had been stolen. The company operated the website at https:// Antrush.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Anna (Insta: Sha Zhu Pan) | Antrush.com |
| www.cryptocurrencybtx.com www.cryptocurrencybitcore.com | The victim, with the assistance of family and friends, began investing in cryptocurrency through the website www.cryotocurrencybtx.com. After investing about $99,000 into this account using Coinbase Wallet platform and ImToken wallet platform, the victim believed he had made a profit of more than $350,000. He was initially able to withdraw small amounts, but when he sought a larger withdrawal, he received a message from the website that his withdrawal application was rejected, and his funds were frozen because he owed taxes on his earned profits for the year. He was advised that he must pay almost $30,000 in taxes in order to have funds released and resume trading. The victim paid the funds and was told his account was unfrozen and he could now withdraw funds. But when he tried to withdraw his funds, he received another message that said his account was a security risk and he was suspected of using the platform to maliciously cash out and launder money. The message further indicated that according to the relevant regulations of the relevant regulatory agencies for cryptocurrency transactions and the international anti-money laundering law, he must re-submit his identity certificate to customer service (photos of the front and back of his ID card and a selfie with his ID card in hand), and then pay 25% of the current funds in his account as “a risk hedge to relieve the risk status” of his account. Since the website showed his current account capital was more than $250,000, he was told he needed to pay approximately $62,000 as a risk hedge within two days. At that point, the victim became concerned the website was fraudulent. The company operated the website https://www.cryptocurrencybtx.com and https://www.cryptocurrencybitcore.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | www.cryptocurrencybtx.com www.cryptocurrencybitcore.com |
|
| Apex Elite Trades | Victim met “Margaret Charles” on Facebook who said she could help invest in Bitcoin. “Margaret” directed victim to a trading platform and said she would then see her investment grow, promising profits in seven days. After seven days, Margaret told the victim they had made enough money, and that she should upgrade her account to get a profit in 24 hours. Once the 24 hours passed, Margaret asked the victim to invest even more money to get more profit in the next 24 hours. Then Margaret told the victim she needed to pay a service fee and wait another 24 hours for the profits to be paid out. Next, Margaret told victim she had to pay a tax to a different Bitcoin address. The victim asked for her initial $12,000 investment back plus the $2000 in fees, but Margaret stopped communicating with her. The company operated a website at https://apexelitetrades.net. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Charles Margaret Margaret Charles | https://apexelitetrades.net |
| https: //altcoins-exchange.com (Entity Impersonating Altcoinexchange.com) | The victim deposited Bitcoin on several occasions into an account on the cryptocurrency platform altcoins-exchange.com. After being confused by the fees and instructions, the victim called Customer Service but did not get help. Now the victim can’t get her money back. The company operated the website at https: //altcoins-exchange.com. This is not to be confused with the website altcoinexchange.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Imposter Scam | https://altcoins-exchange.com | |
| Bitstampnd.info (Impersonating Bitstamp) | The victim met “Mingyi,” who convinced her to invest in bitcoin, promising she would make money. Mingyi convinced the victim to transfer money from Cryptal.com to a fake platform at https://www.bitstampnd.info/#/. When the victim wanted to withdraw her money from the fake platform, she received a message saying her investment had grown to more than $300,000 but the tax department at the company said she needed to pay 35% income tax or more than $90,000 to withdraw the money, and the tax could not be deducted from the account assets. The company demanded that she complete the payment of the taxes within three business days after the notice, and that the victim must provide her social security number or personal tax identification number to complete the transaction. The victim said she lost all her savings to this scam. The company operated the website at https://bitstampnd.info/#/. This is not to be confused the website www.bitstamp.net. | Imposter Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | bitstampnd.info |
|
| trader.bfy-c.co | The victim met a woman on the online dating app Tinder. She offered to show the victim how to make money spot trading gold. The scammer had the victim open an account on the Meta Trader 5 trading platform and simulate some trades, which showed the victim making money. The scammer also directed the victim to open an account on another platform, trader.bfy-c.co. After the simulated trading, the scammer then directed the victim to trade real funds, and he wired more than $120,000 to the Meta Trader 5 trading platform, which was transferred to the trader.bfy-c.co platform. The platform indicated that the account was worth more than $250,000 but when he tried to withdraw some of the funds, he was told by the platform that he would have to pay taxes of at least $14,000. The victim reports that he has been unable to get any funds back, despite repeated attempts. The company operated the website at https://trader.bfy-c.co. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform Romance Scam | trader.bfy-c.co | |
| https://www.decurretbit.com/p/pc (Entity impersonating Japanese company, Decurret) | The victim got a text message from a stranger calling herself “Arina” a divorced woman from Singapore living in Irvine, California. The initial contact was a “wrong number” but eventually gained the victim’s trust through repeated texts, and at some point asked to move the conversation to the Telegram app. There, the conversation turned to investing and Arina claimed she was making great profits and offered to help the victim trade because they were friends. Arina then directed the victim to a cryptocurrency trading app. At first, the victim invested $500, and after showing that he had made a huge return on investment, Arina told him to make a test withdrawal to make sure that there were no problems, and he was able to withdraw money. Victim did some research on the company, and after seeing his withdrawal go smoothly, he believed it was a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange. After that Arina encouraged the victim to deposit increasing amounts of money, she even told him to take out personal loans in order to achieve greater profits. Then one evening, the victim was randomly looking for more information on the exchange and came across another victim who described the “pig butchering” scam. The victim immediately tried to withdraw all of his funds, but just like the other victim had warned, he got a message from the website’s “customer service team” saying he needed to pay taxes on the money before they would release the funds. The company operated the website at https://www.decurretbit.com/p/pc. This is not to be confused with the website www.decurretbit.com. | Imposter Scam Pig Butchering Scam | Arina | https://www.decurretbit.com/p/pc |
| Bitstack Option | The victim received a notification on Instagram that “Rembrandt Flores” was requesting to follow her. She thought the request was from somebody she knew. Rembrandt sent her a message saying hi and asking to talk about her day. At some point, Rembrandt asked to move the conversation over to WhatsApp, and there, mentioned cryptocurrency trading, telling the victim he could show her how to invest. He directed her to a website, bitstackoption.com. The victim told Rembrandt she didn’t know anything about cryptocurrency, so he directed her to the crypto.com app, and showed her how to open a wallet. He asked how much she had in the bank, which she indicated was not much. He said that was okay, and in fact, he would add $1,000 to whatever she wanted to invest, because that was not much money to him. She invested $2,000 and Rembrandt represented that he added $1,000, and he subsequently told the victim her account was worth more than $14,000. The victim told her mother, who invested $4,000 and was told her balance was more than $28,000. This is not to be confused with the company Bitstack which operates the website at www.bitstrack-app.com. The victim subsequently told Rembrandt she and her mother wanted to withdraw their money from their accounts. But they were told by the website they would need to pay fees upfront, and they could not deduct the fees from the withdrawal amount. So, the victim went to a Bitcoin ATM and paid the fees of more than $8,000 for her and more than $5,500 for her mom. After hearing nothing, the victim’s mom messaged Rembrandt on WhatsApp. The real Rembrandt responded saying he had no idea what she was talking about. At that point, the victim realized someone was pretending to be her friend and that she had been scammed. The company operated the website at https://bitstackoption.com. At some point, the victim told Rembrandt she and her mother wanted to withdraw their money from their Bitstack accounts. But they were told by Bitstack they would need to pay fees upfront, and they couldn’t deduct the fees from the withdrawal amount. So the victim went to a Bitcoin ATM and paid the fees, more than $8,000 for her, and more than $5,500 for he mom. After hearing nothing, the victim’s mom messaged Rembrandt on her own WhatsApp. The real Rembrandt responded saying he had no idea what she was talking about. At that point, the victim realized someone was pretending to be her friend and that she had been scammed. | Imposter Scam Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | https://bitstackoption.com | |
| Token Swap | The victim was introduced to Tokenswap.net by “Hayley” who told him he could make money. Victim invested several times and believed he had made a profit, but when he tried to withdraw the money he was first told he needed to make a deposit for taxes owed to the IRS. Then, he received an email from the website that asked him to submit a selfie holding an ID card, personal bank statements for the past three months, and a deposit of 30% of the total market value of his account, after which the website said it would review his withdrawal request. When the victim refused, he received another email saying if he did not pay the deposit within 5 days, he would not be able to withdraw his money, and that they had the right to freeze his account and “blacklist” him. The company operated the website at https://tokenswap.net. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Hayley | https://tokenswap.net |
| Stunwill Limited | The victim invested $100,000 in online trading company through the Meta Trader 5 trading platform and started trading. At some point, he believed he had made profits exceeding $1.5 million, and made a request with the company to withdraw. They told him he needed to make a “risk deposit” of more than $300,000, which he deposited, and they then told him to wait one to three days for the funds to arrive in his crypto.com account. When his funds didn’t arrive after five days he asked the company, but this time they said he needed to pay a $100,000 penalty. He did not get his money back. The company operated a website at https://www.crm.stunwill.com. | Fraudulent Trading Platform | Peng Li | https://www.crm.stunwill.com |
| CoinWpro | The victim joined a digital exchange called Coinwpro.xyz and started investing, staking and mining there after the exchange promised he could make 2% daily. After the company represented his account was worth approximately $370,000 he requested a withdrawal. He was able to make several withdrawals of smaller amounts, but when he asked to withdraw more the company told him he needed to pay more than $100,000 for taxes, or he couldn’t withdraw any more. He didn’t pay, but tried to withdraw a smaller amount again and got no response. He sent the company a message on WhatsApp asking about his withdrawals and was told he needed to pay an electricity fee of more than $25,000 or he wouldn’t be able to withdraw any more money. The company operated a website at https://www.CoinWpro.xyz. | Fraudulent Trading Platform Liquidity Mining Scam | CoinWpro.xyz | |
| Poloina | The victim claims this website is holding money he deposited to invest in cryptocurrency and demanding he pay taxes before he can withdraw. When he asked customer service why he couldn’t withdraw money and pay the taxes on his, the said if he didn’t pay the taxes to them he faced consequences such as negatively affecting his credit score, and possibly prison. The company operated the website at https:// poloina.com/EfyF.html. | Fraudulent Trading Platform | https://poloina.com/EfyF.html | |
| Helius Capital Limited Helius.pro | The victim met a stranger on WhatsApp calling herself “Lydia ( Chin Liu )” who claimed to live in Manhattan. She encouraged the victim to open an account at MT5 Coin Tiger and said she would teach him to invest. Later, she suggested the victim change to a new platform that Lydia claimed belonged to her family in Hong Kong. Lydia showed the victim how to transfer money from Coin Tiger to her family’s platform, and he made several transfers totaling approximately $30,000. Eventually, his account showed a balance of more than $ 250,000. At some, the website server stopped working. The victim contacted their online customer service and was told there in the process of performing maintenance and upgrading, and they would contact him by email when it was complete. Instead, he was no longer able to access the website. The victim sent numerous messages to Lydia, but she only told him to be patient and wait for the website to complete its maintenance. The company operated the website at https://www.helius.pro/en/. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Lydia (Chin Liu) | https://www.helius.pro/en/ https://user.helius.pro/ |
| tesbtcinge.com | The victim met “Kathy Lina” on a dating site and they began talking and texting for about a month, during which time she kept showing the victim how much money she was making with a certain crypto investment site. Eventually, the victim deposited money. The victim reported that all communication with the website was through a chatbot help window. He believed he had a balance of more than $16,000, but he tried to withdraw some of the money he was told he had violated company rules. He got a message saying the only way he could withdraw was to deposit an amount equal to what he had in the account, approximately $16,000. At this point he realized it was a scam. The company operated the website at https://www. tesbtcinge.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Romance Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Kathy Lina | tesbtcinge.com |
| NATSLE.com | The victim was contacted on WhatsApp by a woman named “Letty” claiming she knew him. They texted back and forth and became friends. One day Letty showed the victim how much she made trading gold on the Meta Trader 5 trading platform. At first, Letty had the victim set up a demo account to show how it was done. Then, Letty proposed he set up a real account and sent a website link where he could deposit cryptocurrency to get started trading. The victim thought the website looked very suspicious, so did an internet search and discovered a Consumer Alert on the DFPI website about a similar scam. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Letty | www.natsle.com |
| HGEex.com | The victim met “Ms Vianne” on the LINE app. Vianne convinced the victim to open an account with HGEex to trade options for profit. Vianne showed the victim she had made profits and asked him to help her trade, which he thought he was doing successfully. Vianne then convinced the victim he should invest his own money. He sent more than $20,000 to a cryptocurrency exchange, then transferred the cryptocurrency to an account on the HGEex website. At some point, he tried to withdraw some of his funds, but was told by HGEex customer service that his account was frozen. They also sent an email saying: “Hello, upon inquiry, your investment profit in this exchange has exceeded 100% of the principal amount and has met the tax requirement. According to the cryptocurrency tax requirements, you need to pay 30% of your total assets (7950.384 USDT) as personal income tax. Your account can be restored to normal use after the tax is paid.” At this point, the victim realized it was a scam, and tried to talk to Ms Vianne on LINE. Vianne told the victim that she did pay the exchange tax and was able to get 80% reimbursed. The company operated the website at HGEex.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Ms Vianne | HGEex.com |
| FTX DEX SOLANAFTX BYBIT (Entity Impersonating FTX) | The victim started investing and trading on what he believed was a cryptocurrency platform. He believed he had made profit and requested a withdrawal from the platform. He was told he needed to pay taxes on the profits before he could withdraw, which he did, but then was told that had overpaid the tax by a few cents, and therefore had to pay the entire tax amount again. After he made that tax payment, the platform said he would be charged a 10% Platform Service charges. He then provided a new crypto wallet address for the withdrawal funds but was told the withdrawal would be blocked unless he paid another 10% for address verification. When he paid that, he was told because he had made multiple transactions, he needed to re-verify his account and pay another 10% fee on the balance. After paying the verification charges, he was told his account had been frozen again due to multiple withdrawal attempts and that he had to pay another 10% fee. After paying the fee to unfreeze his account, he was told because his credit score was not good, he needed to pay approximately $40,000 to fix his credit score. He paid the money fix his credit score and was charged another 10% service fee. Then his account was frozen again, and he was told to pay another $10,000 to unfreeze it. He made the payment in two installments but was told they did not accept the second installment and that he needed to repay that installment again of his account would be frozen again. He repaid that second installment amount by the deadline and was he had missed it because it was based on Eastern Standard Time and the victim was in California. Thus, they asked him to repay that amount again within 7 days or they would freeze the funds again. The victim reports he invested his life savings of approximately $600,000, taken multiple loans from banks, withdrew my 401k savings, and borrowed money from friends hoping to get his money back. The company operated the websites at daoftxdex.com. | Imposter Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | daoftxdex.com solanaftxdex.com bybitdex.com |
|
| sswapep.vip | The victim met a person who called themselves “Lili Chen” on the communication app Zoosk. After communicating for a while, Lili began talking about investing in crypto. Lili told the victim she wanted them to spend their lives together. Lili had the victim send money to the website, which she claimed was a trading platform, and said he could make large profits. She even showed the victim he could put money back into his account. After a few weeks, she suggested they set up a ‘love fund’ so they could move away together. She instructed him to set up an account and she promised to put $80,000 in it, if he promised to put in $20,000. He did so, but then Lili said she had to take care of her Aunt and needed the victim to contribute $30,000 more before they could meet. The victim put another $20,000 in, and believed that including profits, the account was worth $120,000, but when he tried to take some of his money out, he got a message from the website’s customer service saying he needed to pay 10 % of the total amount of the account before he could get any amount back. The victim became concerned a reached out to DFPI. The company operated the website at sswapep.vip. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Lili Chen | sswapep.vip |
| https://marketcap.cc/mobile (This is not to be confused with other companies that use the name "marketcap") | The victim met “Yin Chang” (who also uses the name “Vivian Change”) through WhatsApp and they started talking on Telegram. He even met her once in a coffee shop in Brentwood, California. At some point, “Vivian” contacted the victim on his cellphone and told him she could help him invest money in crypto currency and get a very good return. Scammer told the victim to invest through the website https://marketcap.cc/mobile and helped him open an account. Vivian also told the victim that her aunt is a financial investor who knew the market very well, and would help them buy and sell the crypto currency USDT on that website. Over the course of a few months, the victim had transferred approximately $200,000 to this website. Vivian showed him to check his balance on the website, and he believed his balance was more than a million dollars. At that point, the victim tried to withdraw $50,000 but got a message from the website saying he needed to pay taxes of more than $120,000 first before he could transfer money out of the account. When he didn’t pay they blocked his account and threatened they would close it and keep all of his money. The victim became concerned a reached out to DFPI. The company operated the website at https://marketcap.cc/mobile. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Yin Chang (Vivian Chang) | https://marketcap.cc/mobile |
| https://kacofinance.io (Entity Impersonating Kaco Finance) | The victim met a person online calling herself “Anna Lee” who also went by the name “Lina.” Lina lured the victim to a cryptocurrency exchange and said she would help the victim trade in the account to make money. Lina told the victim she had placed $80,000 of her own crypto into the account too to build the victim’s trust. Lina began assisting the victim to trade on the site and eventually told the victim that the account balance had reached $607,000. But when the victim wanted to withdraw the funds, the website told him he needed to pay the $80,000 back to Lina first, so he did. Then the website said he needed to pay $121,000 for taxes, which he paid. He was then told he needed to pay an ACH Fee of $42,000, but the victim could only pay about $25,000. The victim reached out to Lina for a loan, but she refused. Now the victim cannot get his money back. The company operated the website at https://kacofinance.io. This is not to be confused with the website www.kaco.finance. | Imposter Scam Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Anna Lee ("Lina") | https://kacofinance.io |
| SantanMarkets.co | The victim was messaged on Facebook by a stranger calling herself by “Belen Li”. After a few weeks of communicating, Belen Li offered to teach the victim how to trade cryptocurrency. She encouraged the victim to open a Crypto.com account and transfer money to the Meta Trader 5 trading platform and then into an account he opened at a website Belen Li told him about. Belen Li convinced the victim he had made a series of small, successful trades, and then asked him to transfer more than $5,303.00 from his Cyrpto.com wallet. After a few days, he told his account was closed and his funds were gone. He talked to “Kelly” via WhatsApp who claimed to be a Customer Service Manager for the website, who told him he was unable to access his account. The company operated the website at SantanMarkets.co. | Imposter Scam Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Belen Li "Kelly" (Customer Service Rep) | SantanMarkets.co |
| Rudolf Stark Pro Station rudolfstarkeps.com | The victim sent approximately $15,000 worth of cryptocurrency to a trading platform to trade and earn money. But when he tried to withdraw some funds, the platform’s customer service rejected his request, saying he needed to pay taxes or approximately $23,000 first. After he paid that amount, customer service told him it would take 15 business days to complete the tax deduction. He waited more than 2 months, and now the customer service won’t respond anymore. The company operated the website at rudolfstarkeps.com. | Fraudulent Trading Platform | rudolfstarkeps.com | |
| api.scbtrader.com (This is not to be confused with other companies using the name "Scbtrader") | The victim received a text from a stranger named “Sally” and began communicating with her. She suggested that they moved their conversations to an app called Telegram. At some point, Sally told the victim he could making money trading cryptocurrency on an online platform and sent him a link to establish an account. Sally then began providing instructions on when to buy and sell the crypto coin Sheb. Victim transferred money from his bank account to the platform, eventually sending approximately $24,000, and believed his account was growing in value. But when he tried to withdraw some money, he was told he needed to pay taxes first. Sally directed him to transfer money from his bank account to the Cryptocurrency Regulatory Authority to pay the taxes. After he did so, the platform told him he missed the deadline, and now needed to pay another $4,000. When he refused to pay this amount, Sally blocked him on Telegram. The company operated the website at api.scbtrader.com. | Pig Butchering Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Sally | api.scbtrader.com |
| jexwallet.xyz | The victim met “Samantha Yeelina” on a dating app, and they began talking via phone calls and text messages. After some time, Samantha told the victim that she was very good at trading cryptocurrency, and could help him make money, plus it would be a fun way to connect more. The victim started with a $1,000 investment, and was able to withdraw some of the funds, so he added more money. He believed his relationship with Samantha was strong, and she began to talk about love, marriage, and kids. But when the victim asked to meet her in person, she claimed her mom got sick and needed to take care of her at the hospital. At some point, the victim tried to withdraw money from the website, and Samantha contacted him, asking him what he was doing. Samantha then told the victim to invest more, reassuring him the money would be for their future. Then, Samantha told him they needed to make as much profit as possible, and she pressured him to take out a $100,000 loan. At that point, the victim became suspicious that he was involved in a Romance Scam. The company operated the website at jexwallet.xyz. | Imposter Scam Pig Butchering Scam Romance Scam Fraudulent Trading Platform | Samantha Yeelina | jexwallet.xyz |
Glossary*
Advance Fee Scam – Scammer requests an upfront payment, promising a future service or huge return on investment.
Affinity Scams – Scammer targets members of an identifiable group (e.g., cultural, religious, or ethnic community) and curries favor with them to rope them into a fraudulent investment opportunity.
Asset Recovery Scam – Scam by a third party requiring a fee to “recover” funds lost in a prior fraudulent transaction.
Bait and Switch Scams – A scam to mislead buyers, whereby a seller advertises an appealing but ingenuine offer to sell a financial product or service that the seller does not actually intend to sell. Instead, the seller offers a sub-par, defective, or unwanted product or service. For crypto, this might be most relevant to non-fungible tokens.
Crypto Blackmail Scam – Scammer sends emails or physical mails to victims saying they have personal information about the victim or embarrassing or compromising photos or videos. They scammer then threatens to make these things personal information public unless the victim pays them in cryptocurrency.
Fraudulent Trading Platform – Scammer develops a fraudulent website or application and convinces victims to deposit funds to the platform under the guise of providing victims access to a unique investment opportunity. The fraudulent platforms appear legitimate, even going as far as replicating price movements and producing artificial gains.
Hacking – Exploiting a computer system or private network inside a computer with the intent of stealing personal information, such as passwords and bank account information, for financial gain.
High Yield Investment Programs (HYIP) – Ponzi schemes that promise passive income and high returns in short periods of time through an investment of crypto assets. These schemes often offer payment structures similar to that of multi-level marketing or pyramid schemes to recruit new investors, promising early investors a percentage of the profits of other investors they recruit. These schemes are usually heavily promoted through social media and may use paid social media promoters to market their product. Initially, the investment platform will appear legitimate and produce positive returns on a consistent basis. However, scammer will eventually take off with the invested funds and freeze the platform under the guise of technical issues, before completing shutting down the platform.
Identity Theft – Crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain (Aka identity fraud).
Imposter Scams – Scammer impersonates a legitimate business, government agent, or well-known figure to gain access to a user’s systems and personal information for financial gain (e.g. to steal the user’s assets).
Liquidity Mining Scam – Liquidity mining is an investment strategy used to earn passive income with crypto assets. Investors stake their crypto assets in a liquidity pool to provide traders with the liquidity to conduct transactions. In exchange, investors receive a portion of the trading fees.
In the liquidity mining scam, victims move cryptocurrency from their wallets to the liquidity mining platform and see the purported returns on a falsified dashboard[1]. Believing their investments to be a success, victims purchase additional cryptocurrency. Scammers ultimately move all stored cryptocurrency and investments made to a scammer-controlled wallet.
Livestream Scam – Scammer broadcasts a livestream event through an online streaming platform (e.g., YouTube) to market a fraudulent promotion or product. Promotions typically offer questionable terms that are too good to be true and may request payment through crypto assets.
Pig Butchering Scams – Scammer may use a variety of methods to establish a relationship (either social, romantic, or business focus), and then gain the victim’s confidence and gradually introduce the victim to a fraudulent investment opportunity. In most cases, Scammer will approach victims through social media or dating apps, ask to take the conversation offline (e.g., Whatsapp, WeChat), and then communicate regularly with the victim to establish the relationship. Once Scammer has the victim’s trust, Scammer will then propose an investment opportunity related to crypto assets. Scammer will offer to train the victim to set up an account on an exchange to purchase crypto assets, and then provide a website or wallet address for the victim to transfer funds in order to participate in the investment opportunity. The fraudulent platform investment opportunity is often designed to appear legitimate, and often produces artificial gains to keep the victim engaged in the platform and possibly deposit more funds. However, the victim is never able to withdraw their funds from the site, and may be asked to transfer even more funds before anything can be withdrawn through a variety of excuses (e.g., service fees, IRS taxes, etc.).
Ransomware – Scammer gains access to a victim’s computer systems or private network, encrypts sensitive information or data, and demands a ransom from the victim to restore access to the encrypted information or data upon payment. Scammer will then provide detailed instructions on how to pay the fee to get the decryption key and may accept payment in crypto assets.
Romance or Social Media Scam – Scammer adopts a fake online profile to gain a victim’s affection and trust and then uses the illusion of a romantic or close relationship to manipulate and/or steal from the victim.
Rug Pull Scam – Derived from the expression “pulling the rug out”. Variation of investment scheme where a developer attracts investors to a new cryptocurrency project (e.g., a new token or initial coin offering) through online crowdfunding, pumps up the value of the investment, and then pulls out before the project is built, leaving investors with a worthless currency.
Tech Support Scam – Tech support scammers want victims to believe they have a serious problem with their computer, like a virus. They want victims to pay for tech support services the victims don’t need, to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. They often ask victims to pay by wiring money, putting money on a gift card, prepaid card or cash reload card, or using a money transfer app because they know those types of payments can be hard to reverse.
* Please note the terms and definitions are constantly reviewed and may change based on developments in the crypto space. Please also be aware that a crypto scam may incorporate elements of multiple types of scams.
A Note for Companies: If you believe you or your company has been identified in error, please contact the DFPI at ask.dfpi@dfpi.ca.gov.