I don't know how you were able to be completely convinced by a random person you met online, I guess the person was a female who post all these silly images to entice people(especially men) and right behind the scene is always operated by a full beard man.
By looking at the exchange, they look scammy, the footer of the website doesn't have an office description or any licence, they don't have social handles, not Twitter, even the through the Facebook you claimed you met the person, they don't have any social media platform for customers, a complete red flag.
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FacnjGJ5.png&t=665&c=1tQfjz-hmy3c1g)
Source:
https://www.whois.com/whois/hotaex.netThe exchange domain was also registered some months ago, everything about this exchange speaks scam, luckily you were able to get back your money, stay away from exchanges that aren't known and stop associating your finances with online friends.