Bitcoin Forum

I have asked for this thread to be translated for the Russian local board (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5458496.0)


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Here is a story in the WKYUFM website (https://www.wkyufm.org/news/news/2023-06-25/he-lost-340-000-to-a-crypto-scam-such-cases-are-on-the-rise) that caught my eye and considering the scale of the scam I thought it deserved to be posted as a warning to others, especially to the forum members who post primarily in the Russian language boards.

There is a lot of information in the article related to the fake company, fake trading charts on a fake website, the hijacking of the name of a real company, fake linked in profiles and photographs of team members that were taken from  Shutterstock. It also has part of the investigation that takes the team to the United Kingdom to search for the elusive operators of SpireBit only to discover the name and address on the scammers spirebit.com website belongs to a completely unrelated company and director.




I would like keep this post related to the specific point in the news article about SpireBit and their claims to be a crypto investment company but in reality they are a scam.

They lure vulnerable victims via Instagram then ask to chat on Telegram. Then under the guise of friendship and advice in Russian they win the confidence and trust of their victims, enough to at least get them to send their KYC in order to open an account at SpireBit. The victims then send $500 from their bank straight via transfer directly to an account on crypto.com (that has been newly opened).

After creating a fake trading/investment chart on their website which purports to show the invest increasing the victim is duped in to sending more funds and then more and that is how it continues until the victim has no more funds to send or tries to withdraw their funds.

It seems they are seeking to initiate contact with older people who are living in the United States but were originally born in what was the former Soviet Union therefore they are targeting a certain locale and age demographic.

They contact victims by befriending them while typing and then speaking to them in Russian. In the case of the victim mentioned in the WKUFM website, he lost his life savings which were at $340,000. It all started off with a $500 investment and a fake website which showed his investment had nearly doubled within a few weeks. He was then manipulated by who he thought was his new found friend "Pavel" who talked the victim in to sending his life savings over a short period of time.

According to the news article the scammers received their funds from the account the victim was using at crypto.com. The victim sent money, converted it to which currency the scammers told him and he sent to the various wallets the scammers instructed.

When the investigators contacted all five of the companies mentioned as partners on their website, all five denied they were in any capacity at all connected or associated with the SpireBit scammers.

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I'll do the translation, if you don't mind.

UPD

I translated your topic into Russian at your request.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5458539.0

Thank you for your efforts, I appreciate it.

I hope members in the Russian language board manage take notice and pass the word around between family and friends especially those that could be towards the slightly elderly age groups.