Beware newbies....ICHCoin $30 million crypto scam.

[stadus]

Recently, there was news about the ICHCoin crypto scam, which has scammed around $30 million from users across the US. The scammers primarily use Facebook and Instagram to find potential victims, pretending to be crypto experts offering advice to lure them in. Eventually, they move to WhatsApp to finalize their pitch and convince the victims to invest.

This scam started back in December 2023 and has targeted around 600 individuals, with many losing large amounts of money -some even their entire savings. If we do a bit of math, that $30 million divided by 600 victims averages out to $50,000 each, showing just how effective and targeted their approach is. Scammers like this will likely continue to operate, but hopefully, we can see a decrease in these scams by educating ourselves and staying aware. Newbies should be especially cautious of these tactics.

Full story here.

https://cryptonews.com/news/fbi-investigates-ichcoin-crypto-scam-costing-victims-millions/

[pakhitheboss]

snip..

I remember hearing a lot about such scams after Bitcoin hit the 21K mark for the first time in 2017. Scammers were using the same technique as the one mentioned by you to lure newbies. They used Bitcoin as a mode of investment option but they never invested any money into Bitcoin. The only difference in this situation is that they are not using Bitcoin but their invented coin and are using WhatsApp to finalize the deal. I do not think the authorities will have issues in locating them as Meta the owner of WhatsApp is very helpful as they are the one who will have all the data that the authorities will need to trace the scammers.

[Porfirii]

So, if I understood it correctly, the modus operandi was that they first gained the victims' trust, then manipulated them so they lied to their banks in order to transfer money to their ICHCoin accounts, and finally redirected them to a platform which showed false results, and the nature of the fraud was only discoverable when the victims tried to withdraw their funds.

If that was so, it is a very twisted method designed by very twisted individuals, the fraudulent nature is clear from the start, and I hope they find them and end up returning the money and, probably, in jail too.

Not only newbies but we all have to be very careful, especially with things we don't understand, and what is worrying is the amount of capital that some people seem willing to invest in something they don't know about, in the hope of great profits.

[stadus]

snip..

I remember hearing a lot about such scams after Bitcoin hit the 21K mark for the first time in 2017. Scammers were using the same technique as the one mentioned by you to lure newbies. They used Bitcoin as a mode of investment option but they never invested any money into Bitcoin. The only difference in this situation is that they are not using Bitcoin but their invented coin and are using WhatsApp to finalize the deal. I do not think the authorities will have issues in locating them as Meta the owner of WhatsApp is very helpful as they are the one who will have all the data that the authorities will need to trace the scammers.

I think scammers are well aware of what authorities can do, which is why you often only hear reports about people getting scammed, but not about who the scammers are. From what I've read about WhatsApp, while they can collect timestamps and phone numbers, the messages themselves are encrypted. So, the authorities' main lead would be identifying the owner of a specific number. But scammers know this too, they use disposable SIM cards, making it almost impossible to trace them back.

[tabas]

Since the FBI is on it already, I hope that it won't just be an investigation but also cracking down on the cons behind that scam. So by reading the article, highlights one main thing and that's about DYOR and knowing the basics because most of the victims are falling for their trap about selling courses in crypto investing.

The perpetrators first reach out through fake profiles, offering what appears to be legitimate advice or courses on cryptocurrency investing.

[albon]

Recently, there was news about the ICHCoin crypto scam, which has scammed around $30 million from users across the US. The scammers primarily use Facebook and Instagram to find potential victims, pretending to be crypto experts offering advice to lure them in. Eventually, they move to WhatsApp to finalize their pitch and convince the victims to invest.

I expected them to use a more complex technique than this to seiize $30 million, as the amount seems really huge, and even most of the scam operations that happened in the past were the same story as what happened with the victims of the Ichcoin trading platform, which I am hearing about for the first time now.

The key factor in the success of this unprofessional and outdated scheme was the lack of experience among the targeted individuals. They didn’t even bother to research the legitimacy of this unliicensed trading platform to which they were sending their assests. I believe that if they had searched for reviews, details, and enough information through search engines, they wouldn't have fallen victim and lost their funds. I see that when excessive trust is given to the wrong person, the consequences can be disastrous, as these scammers are trying to show the public that they are experts, analysts, course creators, and the like, but their purpose is nothing but stealing innocent beginners in cold blood.

[stompix]

I expected them to use a more complex technique than this to seiize $30 million, as the amount seems really huge, and even most of the scam operations that happened in the past were the same story as what happened with the victims of the Ichcoin trading platform, which I am hearing about for the first time now.

It was more complex than the article shows, here is the full report:
https://dfi.wa.gov/consumer/alerts/alleged-cryptocurrency-platform-ichcoinnet-and-excellence-and-innovation-fortune

Another investor that received EIF courses on cryptocurrency trading through WhatsApp and Telegram sent $100,000 to the ICHCOIN platform and was led through several successful trades. On the next trade, all their money was lost so EIF offered to give them a loan to recoup their losses. When the purported loan generated positive earnings, the investor was told the loan needed to be repaid but the funds from the ICHCOIN account could not be used.

It was a scheme with courses, trading, and baiting with free money in their trading account with no first-time deposit involved in the beginning, then predatory loans and, and much more. Some were simple cases of just sending money and never seeing a penny but most of them were far more elaborate traps with multiple steps!

[ImThour]

Never heard of this coin or scam before, but I mean it sound so obvious. I am sorry for those who are affected by this but I think people do not realize or have enough experience to understand the difference between a scam project with false promises vs a stable product like Bitcoin or even Ethereum. I also remember there was another coin similar to this where owners exit liquidity called SafeMoon, very famous in these times too.

[Botnake]

Never heard of this coin or scam before, but I mean it sound so obvious. I am sorry for those who are affected by this but I think people do not realize or have enough experience to understand the difference between a scam project with false promises vs a stable product like Bitcoin or even Ethereum. I also remember there was another coin similar to this where owners exit liquidity called SafeMoon, very famous in these times too.

That's because they want the easiest route, they've heard about Bitcoin and other cryptos, and they've gotten good feedback about investments. Unfortunately, they don't realize there are massive scams in this space targeting investors who lack enough knowledge about crypto.

These scams wouldn’t happen if people were better educated, but sadly, many still aren't. It's a pity that they have money to invest but don’t take the time to research carefully before putting it in. The type of investment where you have a dashboard to track your money is quite similar to what was offered in the past, around 2015-2016 --a lot of those scams could be found back then in Investor-based games.

[stadus]

These scams wouldn’t happen if people were better educated, but sadly, many still aren't. It's a pity that they have money to invest but don’t take the time to research carefully before putting it in.

It often comes down to greed and ignorance. When both are combined in investing, it almost always leads to loss. And when you try to warn these people that they’re investing in a scam, they get defensive (I've experienced this too), thinking you're just trying to hold them back. They end up having to learn the hard way, and sometimes even repeat the same mistakes. I know people who have done exactly that. Sometimes, it’s better not to say anything at all to avoid ruining a friendship by getting involved.

The type of investment where you have a dashboard to track your money is quite similar to what was offered in the past, around 2015-2016 --a lot of those scams could be found back then in Investor-based games.

That was before the bull run in 2017, and there were a lot of scams happening in the gambling section. I was one of the many who got scammed too--fortunately, it wasn’t for a huge amount. IIRC, Bitcoin was just around $200 at that time, so sort of an early stage, and scamming wasn't so sophisticated back then.

[Porfirii]

The type of investment where you have a dashboard to track your money is quite similar to what was offered in the past, around 2015-2016 --a lot of those scams could be found back then in Investor-based games.

That was before the bull run in 2017, and there were a lot of scams happening in the gambling section. I was one of the many who got scammed too--fortunately, it wasn’t for a huge amount. IIRC, Bitcoin was just around $200 at that time, so sort of an early stage, and scamming wasn't so sophisticated back then.

I wasn't active at that time, could you elaborate how these alleged scams worked?

Making an analogy, I presume that scammers used to create an application where investors signed up and after logging in they could follow fictitious results, but I think that's quite sophisticated so I don't know if I have understood the modus operandi well.

[stadus]

The type of investment where you have a dashboard to track your money is quite similar to what was offered in the past, around 2015-2016 --a lot of those scams could be found back then in Investor-based games.

That was before the bull run in 2017, and there were a lot of scams happening in the gambling section. I was one of the many who got scammed too--fortunately, it wasn’t for a huge amount. IIRC, Bitcoin was just around $200 at that time, so sort of an early stage, and scamming wasn't so sophisticated back then.

I wasn't active at that time, could you elaborate how these alleged scams worked?

Making an analogy, I presume that scammers used to create an application where investors signed up and after logging in they could follow fictitious results, but I think that's quite sophisticated so I don't know if I have understood the modus operandi well.

It was really simple, like a Ponzi scheme or a HYIP (High Yield Investment Program). You’d be invited to invest, promising daily interest returns, and you could see your money growing on the dashboard. If you were an early investor, you could withdraw without issues because Bitcoin fees were low back then--so you could even withdraw daily without a problem.

You can see a lot of these HYIPs if you look back to 2014. I’m not sure if some have been deleted, but you can take a look to understand what I’m talking about. It was a common trend back then.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=207.3880

[superman22]

snip..

I remember hearing a lot about such scams after Bitcoin hit the 21K mark for the first time in 2017. Scammers were using the same technique as the one mentioned by you to lure newbies. They used Bitcoin as a mode of investment option but they never invested any money into Bitcoin. The only difference in this situation is that they are not using Bitcoin but their invented coin and are using WhatsApp to finalize the deal. I do not think the authorities will have issues in locating them as Meta the owner of WhatsApp is very helpful as they are the one who will have all the data that the authorities will need to trace the scammers.

You were actually one of the early user of cryptocurrencies that is why you have great past knowledges. More earlier you familiar about new technology than you can be more careful about investing and holding safely. On those days, it was hard to find about such news so people blindly invested their money. Now, people are getting updated news faster. It was most volatile days than now as people actually did not discuss about their lost money. I agree that it is no more tough to find the scammers now-a-days as authority has fast technology for tracing easily.

[Alone055]

I think scammers are well aware of what authorities can do, which is why you often only hear reports about people getting scammed, but not about who the scammers are. From what I've read about WhatsApp, while they can collect timestamps and phone numbers, the messages themselves are encrypted. So, the authorities' main lead would be identifying the owner of a specific number. But scammers know this too, they use disposable SIM cards, making it almost impossible to trace them back.

They use disposable sim cards for WhatsApp so that their identity is hidden, and they mostly use Telegram as well because of the feature Telegram offers where you can hide your number from other users even if they are added as a contact. But even if the numbers are shown, as you said, the sim cards they use are disposable and they don't have a name or an identity attached to them, so the authorities can barely be able to trace them down.

Similar scams are happening in our country as well. It's a group of unknown people scamming people using online channels such as Telegram groups, etc. What they do is they lure in the victims into making cryptocurrency investments, probably telling them they are going to get huge returns on their investments. They then take them to Telegram groups where they have gathered some other victims willing and making investments which is to gain the victims' trust that they are not the only ones making such investments.

I don't know how much money they must have made so far through this, but the numbers must be very high.

[Patikno]

This scam started back in December 2023 and has targeted around 600 individuals, with many losing large amounts of money -some even their entire savings. If we do a bit of math, that $30 million divided by 600 victims averages out to $50,000 each, showing just how effective and targeted their approach is. Scammers like this will likely continue to operate, but hopefully, we can see a decrease in these scams by educating ourselves and staying aware. Newbies should be especially cautious of these tactics.

If the average person loses $50,000 each, then how can these people get scammed and lose so much money? That's a lot of money, and they should have done more research on what they were investing in. Sometimes I'm surprised to see people who are easily fooled, they're definitely offered investments that can get easy profits in a short period of time, that's why.

[Zlantann]

If the average person loses $50,000 each, then how can these people get scammed and lose so much money? That's a lot of money, and they should have done more research on what they were investing in. Sometimes I'm surprised to see people who are easily fooled, they're definitely offered investments that can get easy profits in a short period of time, that's why.

The scam was well organised to attract people. They operated as a crypto training centre, trading and loan platform. It would be very difficult for a novice to know that they are fraudulent. I think one of the main drivers of investing in such a platform is the easy and high returns. They usually promise to do the trading for you, while you relax and take the profit. Just yesterday I received an email about a job offer with a big wage. I knew it was a scam because the remuneration was too big for the task. I was free so I just decided to make fun of the scammer, so I replied. Immediately he asked me to move to Telegram, I knew that he had crossed the red line. Social media is a breeding ground for many scams, we need to be careful.       

[melnyktetiana72]

IHCoin has recently come under scrutiny due to allegations of fraud. Investors are reporting issues with withdrawing funds and a lack of clear information from the project team, raising serious doubts about its reliability.

If you're considering investing in IHCoin or similar projects, be very cautious and always do your own research to avoid risks.

[Botnake]

IHCoin has recently come under scrutiny due to allegations of fraud. Investors are reporting issues with withdrawing funds and a lack of clear information from the project team, raising serious doubts about its reliability.

If you're considering investing in IHCoin or similar projects, be very cautious and always do your own research to avoid risks.

Don't consider investing on it because it's clearly a scam.

All the information about this scam is already in the op

This scam started back in December 2023 and has targeted around 600 individuals, with many losing large amounts of money -some even their entire savings.

[avp2306]

Recently, there was news about the ICHCoin crypto scam, which has scammed around $30 million from users across the US. The scammers primarily use Facebook and Instagram to find potential victims, pretending to be crypto experts offering advice to lure them in. Eventually, they move to WhatsApp to finalize their pitch and convince the victims to invest.

This scam started back in December 2023 and has targeted around 600 individuals, with many losing large amounts of money -some even their entire savings. If we do a bit of math, that $30 million divided by 600 victims averages out to $50,000 each, showing just how effective and targeted their approach is. Scammers like this will likely continue to operate, but hopefully, we can see a decrease in these scams by educating ourselves and staying aware. Newbies should be especially cautious of these tactics.

Full story here.

https://cryptonews.com/news/fbi-investigates-ichcoin-crypto-scam-costing-victims-millions/

This is not new and heard a lot of schemes like this and scammer use multiple coin to deceive people just like that. To bad that many people fall from this  schemes since its like they there's still a lot of innocent people trying to earn money without even thinking what they are doing.

Imagine they didn't bother to do a research regarding on the investment schemes joining so that means even if we are now on digital age lots of people still innocent towards crypto scams.

This scheme is not far from those who proclaim their selves as expert FX or crypto trader and to many people still fall from those investment scam operating thru social media channels.

What we can only do about this is to warn people and educate about those ponzi scheme type of scams and save them from experiencing the worst case scenario that might happen to them on those programs.