Is this a scam? What to do next.

[Lapatai]

So okay, this story didn't happen to me. It happened to a friend (let's call him Bob) of a friend (I will call him Sam).

Bob came to me asking is this a scam and is it legal. Bob doesn't know much about bitcoins and crypto, Sam even less.
Sam somehow got in contact with people who offers to open an account and invest into crypto. These people guaranteed a lot of profit. Sam paid 500 EUR at first and other two times a 2000 EUR.
What is interesting, that these people calling him to invest more. But he has an app (I don't know what app, because I heard it from Bob and he doesn't know either) which shows that Sam has doubled his investment (9000 EUR), but he cannot withdraw it now and these people (from Russia) are calling and rushing him to invest even more.

Bob asked me about that, I said that this is some nonsense. There shouldn't be people calling you and asking to transfer money. All is too fishy.

What should Sam do? Will the police help?

[elda34b]

That is a scam. I think the app itself is a fraud (balance changed by the developer or those who request Sam to deposit). The method similar to 'exchange withdraws' help where you need to deposit first before you can withdraw (if that's even possible).

Stop sending them more money. There is no way in hell legit business can double your investment overnight and not allow you to withdraw anything.

I don't know about the police, but you should report it anyway. The police might be able to help you as long as you have enough information about those who called Sam to invest more.

[bitsurfer2014]

This is a typical scheme on what many people should avoid - a clear example of "double your money scheme" which has

already crawled its way to crypto industry! Remember, "if its too good to be true" it is very probable that it is indeed a

scam! Let us all be vigilant about this and spread awareness within the community.

[xhomerx10]

This is a typical scheme on what many people should avoid - a clear example of "double your money scheme" which has

already crawled its way to crypto industry! Remember, "if its too good to be true" it is very probable that it is indeed a

scam! Let us all be vigilant about this and spread awareness within the community.

 We don't have all the information but my bet is that Bob and Sam have been taken.  That being said, from December 2018 until April 2019, it was possible to purchase Bitcoin for a price between $3,000 and $4,000 USD.  Presently the price of Bitcoin is over $10,000 USD so the doubling of your money was entirely possible.   If Sam had invested 4 500 EUR in Bitcoin during that same period, it would be worth ~ 9 000 EUR today so they numbers aren't out of line with reality.  Too bad they had no fucking idea what they were doing.

[Lapatai]

This is a typical scheme on what many people should avoid - a clear example of "double your money scheme" which has

already crawled its way to crypto industry! Remember, "if its too good to be true" it is very probable that it is indeed a

scam! Let us all be vigilant about this and spread awareness within the community.

 We don't have all the information but my bet is that Bob and Sam have been taken.  That being said, from December 2018 until April 2019, it was possible to purchase Bitcoin for a price between $3,000 and $4,000 USD.  Presently the price of Bitcoin is over $10,000 USD so the doubling of your money was entirely possible.   If Sam had invested 4 500 EUR in Bitcoin during that same period, it would be worth ~ 9 000 EUR today so they numbers aren't out of line with reality.  Too bad they had no fucking idea what they were doing.

Well it happened in about a week to month ago.

[mocacinno]

Well it happened in about a week to month ago.

In my country there was some media coverage about these scams a couple weeks ago... Apparently the amount of scams have reached the threshold needed to attract the attention of the press and the police now.

If i read your story, it's the exact modus operandi described in the media, so i can pretty much guarantee your friend was scammed.
Like it's been suggested before: stop sending them money, go to the police, consider your funds to be lost.

BTW: these scams have NOTHING to do with the actual crypto community... Scammers just pick whatever technology is "hot" in the media right now and use buzzwords from this technology to scam unknowing victims. If bitcoin wouldn't exist they'd find an other angle to scam people using more or less the same methods they're using right now. It's a shame these dirtbags are dragging our community trough the mud, ruining our reputation because we get linked to them... They're just thieves that use our community fame to steal from (mostly) older, non-tech-savvy people.

[stompix]

So okay, this story didn't happen to me. It happened to a friend (let's call him Bob) of a friend (I will call him Sam).

Bob came to me asking is this a scam and is it legal. Bob doesn't know much about bitcoins and crypto, Sam even less.
Sam somehow got in contact with people who offers to open an account and invest into crypto. These people guaranteed a lot of profit.

The moment you hear guaranteed profit it's 99.9% scam with an error margin of 0.1%  

What should Sam do? Will the police help?

Well, Sam shouldn't send any more money first.
Of course, a visit to the police would be necessary since, to be sincere there is probably nothing you can do anymore on your own, but the chances of getting your (their) money back are slim to zero.

We also miss a lot of information on how this (I'm going to call it scam) unfolded.
How were they contacted in the first place, via an email, a website a telephone number, how did they pay that amount, a bank transfer cash in person to some rented office, etc etc etc.
The app thing is also confusing, is really a playstore app or some website..

It might just happen that they've left enough traces to be tracked by the police but again even if they get sentenced it doesn't mean your friends are getting their money back.

Still, I urge your friends to go to the police, If nobody reports them the scammers will try to trick more people and they will go unpunished.


LE:
I just saw the under a month time mentioned, if it was an international bank transfer call your bank, international bank settlements take up to 30 days in some cases (not the actual transfer in that person's account) so even if the thief has cashed out your bank can still stop and flag the transfer from being processed and maybe you have a chance, who knows.

[dessyhodin97]

this is a trend now,but can be avoided with awareness and tactfulness.if people come to you on telegram,whatsapp or any other media to ask for invetsment,always observe what it entails.for instance some slid into my dm on telegram asking me to invest in bitcoin and i'll get double of what i invest.if maybe i wasnt aware of crypto already and also a little bit of greed added,i may have fallen prey,so guys try and be careful. Most of these people aren't from the countries they claim to be from and there literally apps for everything nowadays,even an app to send fake transactions.so bro be more careful next time.

[jhonjhon]

By the looks of it and with the explanation it is surely a scam, he shouldn't send them anymore money regardless if they should him something that it doubled or whatever. It is just an application for God sake and anyone can create an app just to convince because they are legit when in fact it's a scam. Scammers now are getting smarter as the days pass and they will do everything just to rip people off.
With scam at large now, he should have researched more about the person or ask them everything before investing, how can he invest on something that he isn't sure about and he didn't even know the name of the app, i'm sorry but it's just absurd. Well, his a newbie we can't blame him but it's your money make sure to invest it on something worthy and not just to someone who promised big profits but later turned to be a scam.

[putukin]

So okay, this story didn't happen to me. It happened to a friend (let's call him Bob) of a friend (I will call him Sam).

Bob came to me asking is this a scam and is it legal. Bob doesn't know much about bitcoins and crypto, Sam even less.
Sam somehow got in contact with people who offers to open an account and invest into crypto. These people guaranteed a lot of profit. Sam paid 500 EUR at first and other two times a 2000 EUR.
What is interesting, that these people calling him to invest more. But he has an app (I don't know what app, because I heard it from Bob and he doesn't know either) which shows that Sam has doubled his investment (9000 EUR), but he cannot withdraw it now and these people (from Russia) are calling and rushing him to invest even more.

Bob asked me about that, I said that this is some nonsense. There shouldn't be people calling you and asking to transfer money. All is too fishy.

What should Sam do? Will the police help?

Give a friend a slap, let him restart his brain. Most likely, a friend contacted a brokerage company that first helps to increase the investment but then he will lose the entire deposit. Better let him engage in trading and receive a profit trusting only himself.

[xhomerx10]

This is a typical scheme on what many people should avoid - a clear example of "double your money scheme" which has

already crawled its way to crypto industry! Remember, "if its too good to be true" it is very probable that it is indeed a

scam! Let us all be vigilant about this and spread awareness within the community.

 We don't have all the information but my bet is that Bob and Sam have been taken.  That being said, from December 2018 until April 2019, it was possible to purchase Bitcoin for a price between $3,000 and $4,000 USD.  Presently the price of Bitcoin is over $10,000 USD so the doubling of your money was entirely possible.   If Sam had invested 4 500 EUR in Bitcoin during that same period, it would be worth ~ 9 000 EUR today so they numbers aren't out of line with reality.  Too bad they had no fucking idea what they were doing.

Well it happened in about a week to month ago.

 In that case, it's a certainty they've been defrauded.

[CoinClarity]

Sounds like a MLM Ponzi like Trade Coin Club or something similar to it.

My neighbor got roped into it through a fellow church member of all people, who was eager to get a slice of his commission. You "buy some bitcoin" (you're not really buying anything), watch it "grow in value" on your state-of-the-art Ponzi App, marveling at the wonders of "automated cryptocurrency trading" (which again is nothing other than a Ponzi).

They put in a lot of conditions to dissuade you from withdrawing at any point -- early withdrawal penalties and so forth. And should the day come when you do wish to cash you, you'll find its impossible to get either

a. the total of what you put in, despite your balance having doubled or whatever
b. anything at all.

Basically OP, as you have probably gathered by now, your friend is screwed, and sorry to say it but there's no good ending to this story.

[metallica101]

So okay, this story didn't happen to me. It happened to a friend (let's call him Bob) of a friend (I will call him Sam).

Bob came to me asking is this a scam and is it legal. Bob doesn't know much about bitcoins and crypto, Sam even less.
Sam somehow got in contact with people who offers to open an account and invest into crypto. These people guaranteed a lot of profit. Sam paid 500 EUR at first and other two times a 2000 EUR.
What is interesting, that these people calling him to invest more. But he has an app (I don't know what app, because I heard it from Bob and he doesn't know either) which shows that Sam has doubled his investment (9000 EUR), but he cannot withdraw it now and these people (from Russia) are calling and rushing him to invest even more.

Bob asked me about that, I said that this is some nonsense. There shouldn't be people calling you and asking to transfer money. All is too fishy.

What should Sam do? Will the police help?

Yup, definitely sounds like a scam. Whenever you are promised large profits instead of being presented with a clear business plan that would lead to said large profits, it is best not to give away your money. Definitely not if you don't know what you are investing in, and if 'Bob' and 'Sam' know nothing about BTC and crypto — anyone could tell them anything. I don't think that there is much that they can do right now in terms of getting the money back. But, they should definitely report this to the police or some scam-related authorities. They can tell them more about their current options and how to proceed.

[libert19]

Those were fiat money transactions, right? If so, police could help, also those phone calls might help to get to those scammers (unless they be using burner phones).

[serjent05]

That is definitely a scam,  Sam can file a complaint to the authority regarding the said scheme.  The thing that he cannot withdraw his profit is shouting that the company he invest in is a scam, and the huge profit promised in return of Sam's investment is another huge red flag.  There are also lots of those lurking here in the Philippines and many people fall victim to it.  One of them is my friend that invest more than $40k in total after their initial investment of $1k.  I tried to tell them that they should be careful and research more before investing on that company but, greed took over them and put in more money.  Same scheme, when I asked my friend they told me that they already have huge profit but they are not allowed to withdraw it for about a year.

[Herbert2020]

remove the term "bitcoins and crypto" from your comment and replace them with "blank". now read it again. you see it has nothing to do with bitcoin and crypto, this scheme is one of the oldest methods of scamming people that existed even before the internet let alone bitcoin.
the characteristics of these types of scam are also the same. they always rely on gullibility of those whom they contact and they focus on their greed. they ask for money while promising huge returns. sometimes they even pay a little to look legit.
there is nothing you can do about it except to stay away.

[carter34]

Back in memory lane while trying to hold my hand somewhere on crypto business and stuffs. I have found myself in such site but now I realize they are scam  but I didn't send any money there but I was investing my time to build some coins I couldn't withdraw while being asked to double it by transferring to withdraw later.

[Sebas.tian]

Its unfortunate that people still fall for these type of scams, even with the awareness being created almost on daily basis on the internet. I have been scammed several times before I joined the cryptocurrency forums, since I joined this forum, I have always educate myself from what other forum users have to say, things have been different from my end, also, I have helped many from be getten scammed. The first place I got scammed was on Facebook page were I found a website called " biohourly.com", I deposited my bought ethereum coins which was 3ETH, they went away with my ethereum without any trace till now. Greediness was the cause of my lost because the investment was to give me *80 of my initial deposit.

[michellee]

Yup, that is a scam for short

In the name of investment, if you are making a profit in a short time, that will be too suspicious because we know the investment itself needs time before we can make a profit. The short time we can get the profit will be at 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month but if the return is too big to imagine, then that will end with the scam.

[Alert31]

So okay, this story didn't happen to me. It happened to a friend (let's call him Bob) of a friend (I will call him Sam).

Bob came to me asking is this a scam and is it legal. Bob doesn't know much about bitcoins and crypto, Sam even less.
Sam somehow got in contact with people who offers to open an account and invest into crypto. These people guaranteed a lot of profit. Sam paid 500 EUR at first and other two times a 2000 EUR.
What is interesting, that these people calling him to invest more. But he has an app (I don't know what app, because I heard it from Bob and he doesn't know either) which shows that Sam has doubled his investment (9000 EUR), but he cannot withdraw it now and these people (from Russia) are calling and rushing him to invest even more.

Bob asked me about that, I said that this is some nonsense. There shouldn't be people calling you and asking to transfer money. All is too fishy.

What should Sam do? Will the police help?

That is clearly a Scam Modus operandi,which they offer to double or triple your capital investment then after they received your money ,they will ask you again to send and you can't withdraw your money back. Much better to avoid investment which they promise to give back your money twice or more which is good to be true because it's difficult to earn money and to have a bigger profit instantly or in a short period of time,So where they will get money to give you back double or even more? Many people now doing this things just to get money easily from other person. They don't even think that those people are working hard just to have those amount to invest.