Bitcoin Forum

Hi,

long story short, it just happend...and i knew i was so stupid, nobody must tell me that  ;)

I would be very thankfull if someone could help me what to do now, it all just happend.

in short:

- meet a contact on the internet (financial manager)
- chatted on whatsapp for some days
- i was shown a site with cryto derivate trading : crypto currency exchangex .com (remove spaces for valid adress!)
- deposit adress is trc20 : TBsLxV5Lu68kaKmC ddontd39XnS8dwEeFQ (remove spaces for valid deposit adress!)
- other website dresses on that site: domain: cryptocurrencyexz.com, email: support@cryptocurrencyexz.com
- i deposited 1k, did trades and could withdraw all
- i deposited 10k and traded, i received a "bonus"
- i had to deposit more to unlock and be able to withdraw
- after that i a "supertrade", the amount was to high and i became a "vip" member but need to deposit more
- i stupid idiot did it, because of the contact in whatsapp talk me in
- now i should deposit another amount to unlock the "money laundering" laws because me transaction was "intercepted" from an authority
- i did nothing more, so many red flags

overall amount deposited there is around 40k in USDT.

I know im an idiot!

so my question is what can i do to at least have a small chance to get something back.

what i have done in the last 2 hours is:

- saved all screenshots, chats, transactions and so on
- contacted a lawyer
- made a report to the police
- i informed tether about it and reported the website



i know here are a lot good guys and girls with good answers and much knowledge.
Can i do anything additionaly or has anyone any tip for me?

This story has ruined me, i know its my fault, but changes nothing on my status now. i could cry all night.

i just want to ask kindly if anyone has any tips for me.

Thank you so much!

Im not sure if there’s anything you can actually do to get your money back, there have been numerous of thread concerning the same type of scam and yet I haven’t see anyone that was able to get their money back and if you should proceed with the deposit you would only lose more money than what you have already lost…

If you don’t mind me asking, I see that you asked if a site was a scam (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5361454.msg58003805#msg58003805) back then in 2021 and you go response from the community which made you chose a different plan than the initial; my question now is “why didn’t you do the same for this one?” Honestly if you had asked question before you engaged in the first trade you would have saved yourself from this trouble — I’m guessing the first profit really won you over.

It is not for nothing that people are always advised to go for knowledge on anything they deem fit to commit their funds to.

This is one of the many reasons why Knowledge about finance and updates on the activities of fraudsters is never a waste

The crypto space has its ups and downs, part of its downs is that all these transactions are not tied to an identity.

The best option now is to report the site, the phone number that chatted you via WhatsApp for further investigation, if its also possible to report the wallet address you transferred the usdt to on tether network.

I think FBI has a page for these kinda complaints but I can't lay my hands on it at the moment.

Thats probably all what I would do if I were in your place.


Im sorry to say, but you should have thought of that before you did all that stupid shit. We could have warned you in time. Now it is too late Im afraid.

The hard truth, the money is gone already. And very little chance of getting it back, even half of it.
I was trying to check the domain registration, but you can't view its details, so high probability that they do have plans of scamming their naive users.
But the OP can move this to scam accusations thread, for other users to be warned about this exchange.
A legit exchange should not ask for more deposit before you can withdraw your money.
Just look at how binance works. You deposit, you trade then withdraw. That's the legit route.

Even if you were unable to confirm the legitimacy of the site on the forum but atleast you were being thought how to check if a site is legit or fake (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5361454.msg58004330#msg58004330) from a post you made back in 2021 but i guess you forgot about all of it probably because of your inactivity over the years. Being active has a lot of advantages as we have seen similar situations of people complaining of similar scam and if you were active you must have come across such posts and learned from them.

Sorry for the loss, I don’t think there is a way to recover your money and they will keep demanding for more deposits because they are aware you will be fixated on withdrawing your funds on the site. The best thing to do is to forget about them and report the site so other people don’t fall for same scam.

I hope this will serve as a lesson not to trust anyone you meet online telling you to invest in their projects and best to ignore all their claims and promises. This forum discourages interaction with unknown people who sends such random messages, They are most likely scammers
 
Probably forgot he asked such question in the past, and he got drawn by their promises and profits.

The steps you took here are good, and I hope you get a positive response from your lawyer, tether, or the police. There have been issues like this before with other users too, but none of them ever gave feedback to let us know if they actually got back their money or not.

I got a few pieces of advice for you: before taking on a financial decision, always inquire from someone who is also very knowledgeable about the investment you want to put your money into. Don't take a quick decision when you are dealing with things that require a lot of money, like the $40k you're talking about here. There are a lot of crypto enthusiasts around; you could ask questions first and do concrete research or inquiries about a particular thing before involving yourself in it.

If you had actually slowed down things and made an inquiry on this forum about that website, you would not have been a victim. Sorry for your loss.

So can you tell what the website url is? Just use the code tag like this one

What you've done is all good, chances that Tether will freeze the USDT on that address but i doubt if they can refund it back to you as i don't see any cases like that before. If they can then it's good, but i feel like it needs some legal request of doing so.

Hi,

Thanks so far for your comments. I calmed down a little.
I know I made a big mistake, i dont know how they catched me mental.

But it was a really "good" scam, i have to say now when i reflect about all the stuff. Whatever, im still an idiot.

My next steps...

I will go to the police tomorrow in person and talk to them. What me makes a bit hopefully is the fact that the whatsapp contact still thinks i didnt realize whats happening.

We are talking right now and "making a plan" together to get the money back. By depositing more money. For sure i will not do that, but i want to keep the contact thinking of that, to keep the communication ongoing. So my hope is that the in fact ongoing scam could offer the police some possibilities. Locating the person maybe, i dont know if thats possible in this case.

We will see. I can keep you informed here about my stupid journey if you like.

Thank you so far, i m happy about all imcoming comments and tips!

Sorry but even if you contact the InterPol, there's nothing going to be done much with your case. There are too many victims like you that have just accepted the fate that they've done wrong and got scammed because even if with the screenshots you've provided or identities that were given to you, it's most likely fake identities. What happened to you is a typical scam, sometimes they do it and starts with the common love scam. But your greediness has ignored all of the red flags about this random stranger. I also receive messages like this on my messaging apps offering jobs, extra money, etc however I know that all of them are scams.

Good luck with that but bigger chances that whoever is behind that contact probably used a hacked/purchased number and details or identity. But still, do what makes you think will satisfy you after doing this mistake. I'm sorry about your losses and hoping you can recover still from it.

It is difficult to catch scammers on the internet especially when you randomly introduce on the internet and trust those who say financial managers and then suggest fake sites where it drains your money so much, you are hypnotized by them so easily deposit tens of thousands of dollars.

Yes, it's your fault because why choose an unfamiliar exchange, or just because you receive a bonus after depositing, if you think about it, it's like gambling depositing to receive a bonus.

Just do your best to satisfy your curiosity by reporting to the police with evidence although I doubt that the police will catch the perpetrators on the internet and that is obviously very difficult.

Finally, if you have done so much to uncover this case then it is better to surrender even though you will not accept the loss of 40K, but must realize that it is your fault.

Oh my, that's a big amount! What a waste!

I think you've probably done the things that need to be done. It's just so sad that whether you will make that next deposit or not might not matter at all. It doesn't mean your expenses will stop, either. Surely, lawyer fees aren't too cheap.

Anyway, since you're still communicating with that scammer and they've already made so much money from you, although hoping against hope, is there any possibility you can sweet talk him/her that you be allowed to withdraw even a portion of your funds? You think the scammer still believes you're still falling for it, right? Perhaps a promise of an even bigger deposit soon might convince them to allow you to withdraw even a little for now?


I don't agree. This is even a very common scam.

If you like, you might want to share how the scam really unfolded so that others will be warned.

I bet this isn't just a financial manager, a total stranger at that, convincing you of depositing tens of thousands. If you're a man, is this contact a woman? Was she a bit flirty in your correspondence?

Idk if the FBI or any other agency can help you, I would definitely be trying every avenue I could until there is nothing more to try. Cyber criminals are going to jail left and right these days.

If you're looking for a tip, learn from this. Don't fall for anything like this in the future. Always ask questions, ask for documentation, phone number, video chat, address. Ask questions on here, there are a whole ton of smart folks that would help you if you ask.

If you're still connected to that contact and hoping to find something to investigate, I don't think you should publish this scammer's address in the OP. So they don't realize that they're being talked about in a public place and you have the next "plan".
I just googled for this address, this thread is the only search result. Don't know how long Google's index will keep it

Try to post all the relevant information, such as the deposit and withdrawal addresses. Those scammers are definitely lazy and have an account in one of the KYCed exchanges. Once you know the address, the tracking journey begins, and any information you can know will help, but returning the money requires the cooperation of the security services with you, and I do not know how this will be done in your country, so the utmost is What we can do is help you track down the scammer and make sure no one else gets scammed.

Hi,

small update:

Tether ha replied to me. I have given them the 4 transactions i made.
They will investigate everything they said.

Now i go in person to the police, whatssapp contact is still writing to me.

I will also report it to the fbi as a few people have mentioned.


I dont think i will get ever something back, but i have to do these steps for my feelings. I know, I know...

Good idea, but im technically not so deep in all this stuff.
Her are the 4 transactions i made on trc20:

5200 USDT
00043b5be3d889841747192b25f67553d73fb1d7ab76b573badd9fd9d694eab4

5000 USDT
9d6cf97f303662b971ed389555bf4c6d59cfad8a3df891d0f21d578e3174e188

15200 USDT

76306d5a4cbcc4885beebcc209cf15008abb10177ba48530d13f6f1327a2f312

17150 USDT
e097b078c24c5c5f941a80535c2bed250ddbb5e9f2ec02aa4107b3affc8f5986

How does the tracking work?

Thanks for any help!

I connected police and Tether as Tether suggested to me in there reply.
Police will check if they can locate the person or can do anything with the mobile number i have.

Currently im chatting with them to keep the contact up!

You have to enter the txid in chain explorers like tronscan.org or (more sophisticated) oklink.com and trace until you find the transaction to a centralized service address that enforces KYC. Then you or your legal representative can contact the company to cooperatively identify the account owner.

Like a transaction to this address TS4.....H69 that end up at the kucoin deposit address https://www.oklink.com/trx/tx/a9db593835e3e2be70b1357499efb83d6f4f8db0ef57ade1cdb31274f79b19be

You can write a domain in the code tag, so there won't be a link.
Also, add one more of their domains to your collection of information. At the bottom of the page, they have an email address as a contact and it is connected to another domain that otherwise has an identical site and content


I hope you will manage to at least identify the scammer.

I used the trc20 scanner and followed my last deposit (17150$).

The USDT is in this wallet, also my deposits before : TE1bRKoKG6wAu5mFymZ8qyG3M1z12n7cqA

But i dont see a connection to kucoin?

Do you use oklink explorer? All 4 txids of your deposit were sent to this address TBsLxV5.....wEeFQ (belongs to the scammer), right? Just track the destination of the tx(s) output from that address, one of which is the address I posted earlier.

This tracking does require special skills and some help from intelligence resources, I also wouldn't say the destination addresses belongs to this scammer.


Try this tool (free resource) https://www.oklink.com/chaintelligence/compliance-tools >> select "Address analysis">> paste the scammer's address >> click "analyze".

I tried but no success as expected!

Took a quick look and I also arrived to this address.

I think there's a chance the perp will either address hop some funds or send it to an exchange. This will take quite an effort with slim chances of recovery but you can try writing to top exchanges and request the address to be blocked so if the perp decided to send it out to an exchange who aggreed to cooperate, it will be blocked. Secondly, if you decided to do so, you'll most likely be asked for a police report or some legal document by the exchange.

You were deceived by a well-planned scammer that managed to control your mind. Otherwise, it was impossible to scam this way. I would never follow a stranger on social media. I often receive the message, "Are you interested in crypto?" But I simply ignore and block them. I am familiar with these types of scams and don't want to waste my time there. It's quite impossible to recover the scammed amount; they would mix their funds where you can't identify the address. If it ends up in centralised exchanges and they withdraw from there, you won't fund anything else. However, law enforcement would help you identify the scammer, and you have stepped up so far. So you have to wait for their actions.

As you now know, the scammers haven’t been trading your investment. They just input large numbers in your account to make you happy and then you can invest more. Hate to be blunt but your money is gone! The chances of you getting it back is very slim. Anyone offering bitcoin recovery services is a scammer and you may end up losing more than you initially lost. I understand you need your $40k but don’t fall victim a second time believing some tech guru is going to trace the bitcoins and get it back for you.

Sorry for your loss, but if there is a bright side in this situation, it is that you have learnt from this and you would not be falling for cheap scammer tricks again. It would be hard to get any part of your money back, but you have to try. But i would say that if you have to spend money in trying to get your money back, by either hiring a lawyer or doing other things, then maybe you can accept the loss rather than spending more money in addition to what you have already lost.

I don't think the scammer would be stupid to use a phone number that is linked to them, they are probably chatting you with a fake number or a bought or hacked sim card.

So why did you not come here first and ask around.

To me if this is a true story oh well.

But I am not so sure it is real.

you were smart enough to find us after you got robbed? not beforehand.


How did you find us to complain about it?

Scammers like them have no conscience. The only way you can possibly get back your money is by reporting to the authorities hoping to track them down. Threatening them is best way to deal with them since sweet talk is their forte and already mastered that’s why you got scam.

Your best chance is to track their wallet address hoping they will commit a mistake by depositing funds to CEX since you can report them to exchange to halt their funds then get the help of authority to claim the ownership of the money legally.

This is something that happens very frequently on the forum, newbies come here to ask questions after they have been scammed or after they have messed up and lost their money, and not before. I wish it was the other way round, and that they come here to ask questions about suspicious schemes and platforms before sending their money to such scammers, but i don't think this is going to change, too sad for the victims.

The OP have already an account here before asking this. He also asked some kind of site before that save his money. I don't know why didn't do it beforehand this time.
Surely, this is not the first time happened here, most newbies only realize asking things when it's already out of hand, you will find them on scam accusation board. And sure it's either expensive lesson to learn or not.

He actually took good steps to recovering his money but we honestly know that recovering such amount over the net is not an easy task. He said he contacted tether, if they can give him a response, Tether has the ability to trace and freeze the coin faster than any agency. In the case of people with similar cases not updating us, it meant they were unable to recover their money.

I actually have to blame him because he has made money. Someone who is able to make upto 40k dollars isn't a newbie, unless such amount of money was made offline. Any investment where the man in the other end is pressuring you and giving you deadline of few hours is a scam. I will recommend the Op to learn the principles of money. Bring one and collect two is an ancient way of scamming which is ought to be mastered by many.

I’m sure the scammers are not going to fall for their own trick. OP just lost $40k, that’s close to owning one whole Bitcoin. He could have just bought Bitcoin and hodl. It pains me that someone would lose such an investment to scammers but there is nothing we can do. I am even more pissed at the fact that OP waited till he was in deep before coming to make a thread about it.

I am happy that you have judged yourself already so there is no need for me to judge or blame you again. Still, I can ship in my advice. In this current dispensation, I do not believe anyone should be scammed cheaply online anymore and we should try as much as possible to avoid anything that is too good to be true. Again, any links, contacts and social media handles that are not directly from the official page of a trusted company should be 100 avoided. Even if a company sends an email to you, do not just click on the link thereof, just go to their official page and do whatever they want you to do. This will save a lot of people, and we should never trust inks from either friends or foes, we have to be thorough these days.

As for your request for help, I don't think you can get the money back. These guys are too smart for that. Sorry about this.

To go about with the reality of what is happening live, if you lost your money by any chance, there's more likely possibilities of you not getting it back, it's more better to see it coming and avoiding it from happening than watching it happen without having a remedy as well to fix it up, don't get scammed because once it happened, there's nothing you can do about it than to take the consequences of the whole show.

This is another old scamming method, feed the fish first to catch them and catch as much as they can.

I still receive such kind of messages from time to time on all platforms but my reply will be like shove it in your A*S. Never let the delusion of making easy money collude your rational thinking.

Since its USDT, its possible to track who did this but I doubt the scammer wait that long before you can make a move, he already converted them into multiple different currencies in different Dexes and laundered them.

This a very common way of scam people. Contacting people via any social media or messaging platforms (Mostly Linkedin, Telegram and Discord) talk to them for a few days and build sort of a friendship with them. then lure them to some kind of profitable investment opportunity. let them earn a little bit and withdraw so they start believing in it and decide to invest. and then ask them for deposit more and more for any obstacle.
so many obvious red flags but sadly you fall for them.
I honestly don't think there is anything you can do. except maybe reach out to law enforcement agencies and complain against them with all the prove and evidence you have. WhatsApp number. msgs screenshots, your transaction details and everything. if you are lucky enough you might get help from them.