SimpleSwap froze & refunded my money & BestChange didn't help (avoid)

[alxSS]

What happened:

Note that I have used SimpleSwap over 100 times and never had this issue before, even on the same wallet addresses.
I was making an exchange for $3.9K from USDC Solana to USDC Ethereum cause I had to pay 2 motion designers of mine for their work, I always paid them in USDC ERC20.
I used SimpleSwap as always, however this time the transaction froze and their agent told me that it has triggered their AML system & sent a link to complete KYC, which I completed right away.
Afterwards, they started asking for more and more documents, which I sent via email (already provided few through live chat) and provided my source of income as well.

However, I checked my addresses and they do not trigger any AML indicators, my USDC on Solana has been almost dormant since I barely use it. I have only been using my USDC ERC20 to pay my designers cause I am a web developer & hire people from different countries at cheaper rates to do my work. Despite my wallet not triggering any AML, they are forcing AML guidelines on me by invading my privacy, I have provided stuff which they shouldn't even know about in the first place.

Scammers Profile Link:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2056315

Reference Link:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4187686.0

BestChange Claim:
https://www.bestchange.com/simpleswap-exchanger.html?review=3459598

Amount Scammed:
$3.9K

Payment Method: USDC on Solana

Proof of Payment: https://solscan.io/tx/3rF19uBNSPFUkBCd1ek6KPtAqn4QrRzC52qkMpBXDhxLrJb6yCmWKC9mqDfoVN4GLJVHji26BUMWU1GWMTP8HkyU

PM/Chat Logs: https://ibb.co/sJ3PD4c7
Additional Notes: I haven't done anything illegal or anything to trigger AML. Please refund my money. Thanks.

UPDATE

BestChange put more effort in reporting the TrustPilot review than helping with the case and when SimpleSwap refunded me, they asked for a better rating cause supposedly they assisted me with it.

If I were in such position again, I wouldn't put any claims on BestChange at all. I'd just leave a review on SimpleSwap's TrustPilot and then be polite to support over email. Thankfully, a supervisor at SimpleSwap took over my case and it was solved. I'm grateful to them.


Timeline of the conversation with BestChange:

Here I sent a message to BestChange user on BitcoinTalk:
https://i.imgur.com/4U0BxnX.jpeg

I emailed Matthew but I never got a response:
https://i.imgur.com/Drw5Zb7.jpeg

Then BestChange changed my claim status on their site to Neutral:
https://i.imgur.com/T9FfLmn.jpeg

SimpleSwap told me that it was Changelly who had frozen my money since they were the liquidity provider, so I opened a claim on them as well and deleted my original claim on SimpleSwap & opened it against Changelly, however BestChange deleted all of the claims.
https://i.imgur.com/r7MvWGW.jpeg

Then BestChange tried to take down my review on TrustPilot towards them using a stupid reason lol.
https://i.imgur.com/ZW0xUxG.jpeg

I contacted them again, then they stopped replying.
https://i.imgur.com/ON9PcwJ.jpeg

Here they asked me to stop creating new claims even though I had none opened at that time since they were all deleted.
https://i.imgur.com/LuiI7sj.jpeg

Here they tried to take down my TrustPilot review again:
https://i.imgur.com/rROLNaI.jpeg

Here's another thread with their support:
https://i.imgur.com/qWKu6oS.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/I1iQ9An.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/FUMZQ5v.jpeg

AML Reports on my addresses, straight from BestChange itself:
https://www.bestchange.com/report/43831f06c483c55cfdd450179d701002
https://www.bestchange.com/report/762d1eab7f8a8b5ad34e08195ecbfcfb

[logfiles]

That's sad to know

The reputation is pretty much not good here

icopress

2025-02-18

Reference

Not a reliable exchange using which you can lose money for any reason.

examplens

2024-12-05

Reference

They refuse to pay the agreed swap under the pretext of market volatility. Check reference.

You should avoid such swap services at all costs and look up those that won't need any KYC verification on websites like kycnot.me. Try to talk to best change to pressurize them to release your funds as their analyser gave you greenlight.

[PX-Z]

After checking the BestChange claim link, it seems your issue won't be resolved unless you provide the additional requirements they're asking for, most likely related to KYC and AML  verification. Unfortunately, if you want to recover those funds, you'll probably need to comply with that process. If you don't they won’t move forward with your case.

That being said, they doesn't exactly have the best reputation around here, so even if you follow through, it's still uncertain how reliable their handling of the situation will be.

[examplens]

Oh, well, it is enough to see the last few reviews on Bestchange, and it is quite clear that this exchange is a serious problem.
It is really unclear why Bestchange is still monitoring them and why anyone is still using them.

https://www.bestchange.com/simpleswap-exchanger.html?review=3459598

Recipient address: *** You sent: 7222 USDT Deposit address: *** Hash in: *** I changed money in this exchanger, they blocked it and the clown show with AML began, I provided them with everything! But you see, they are not satisfied with the passport and all the statements that they fucking requested! Now they need to additionally check something. And it seems to me that they simply stole my money and now under various pretexts do not want to return it! Verbatim correspondence with them by mail:

I made an exchange 2 days ago, but I didn't receive my funds.
They froze my funds without any reason, and they asked for KYC and other documentations.
I already did what they asked even why I didn't know why it needed, but even 1 day after it, they have no response.
I am not sure what is going on, and what I should do now.
Please help me get my funds back.
Thank you.

On Saturday, I initiated a swap on SimpleSwap and it didn't go through.
I tried reaching out to chat support but for hours there wasn't any update apart from we're checking.
I reached out to the email support and over 60 emails have exchanged in the last 72 hours from providing KYC, established trail, personal chats of source of funds, and detail explanations over everything. Yet neither they have refunded to originating address nor they have settled it to intended recipient address.

This has caused me extreme distress and anxiety because these were my personal savings of months that have been held by the exchange.

The entire point of no sign-up, no details, no questions, were defeated with no concern to my privacy, yet given the funds are my own and it is significant for me, I have gone ahead and complied to everything they have asked.

Kindly assist I'm panicking and getting anxious about this arbitrary process for entrusting the platform with my savings.

[logfiles]

Oh, well, it is enough to see the last few reviews on Bestchange, and it is quite clear that this exchange is a serious problem.
It is really unclear why Bestchange is still monitoring them and why anyone is still using them.

And that where I don't like Bestchange's feedback system. They remove the negatives and turn them into neutrals, making the service appear as though everything is OK. If one is keen enough, they have 114 claims (formerly user complaints until Best change made them neutral) vs 156 Positive reviews! That quite a high number for an exchange service

[ABCbits]

PM/Chat Logs: https://ibb.co/sJ3PD4c7

The website says "That page doesn't exist The requested page was not found.". You may want to reupload the image and make sure you shared correct link. The website seems to block you if you use certain type of connection or browser.

I checked my wallet address on Bestchange AML Analyzer and it gave the green light & it's not in any list, yet you're holding my funds due to triggering 'AML' and asking a bunch of personal information. Admin of Bestchange can review the wallet address AML check since I used the same email & name as in the SimpleSwap KYC and see that my wallet doesn't trigger any AML.

https://www.bestchange.com/report/ shows Bestchange use 4 different analyzer service. So i find it's really weird SimpleSwap claim your address trigger "AML" when 4 others doesn't.

[The Cryptovator]

While searching on the forum about SimpleSwap, a couple of scam accusations pop up. So I am wondering if you had a little search on the forum before using their service. Also, the questioned account seems to have multiple red tags; that's a warning for forum users. During visiting their exchange, I have noticed their KYC policy. Though they keep it optional to make us fools and to make no KYC slogan. You're supposed to read their terms before using their service. If you aren't ready to provide your KYC, then don't use an exchange that even asks for KYC as optional.

I don't think SimpleSwap cares about their reputation on the forum. Otherwise they would solve issues for what they were tagged. It seems they aren't going to respond here, and there is less hope to get your funds back. Take the lesson from your mistakes, and others should learn as well.

[alxSS]

Wallahi I got cooked

[ScamViruS]

The AML policy excuse has now become an easy way to scam crypto users, and these exchanges are constantly harassing crypto users using this excuse. The reputation of these exchanges is already very bad on this forum, but you go to bestchange and you will see these scam exchanges listed and even bestchange is helping these exchanges to run these scams. Look at the review pages of SimpleSwap, Changelly, changenow and many other exchanges. You will see the condition of those review pages on bestchange, they have created a situation like a torture cell. Crypto users are being scammed out of millions of dollars on this pretext. Crypto users should not really trust any of these people, crypto users should exchange small amounts. These are greedy scammers, they wait for you to exchange large amounts and trap you to scam you.

It is unfortunate that I have tried to work on such cases in the past to resolve them, but with the support of many, including bestchange, these exchanges continue their business without resolving the problem. Because they do not face any obstacles even if they scam one after another.

[examplens]

And that where I don't like Bestchange's feedback system. They remove the negatives and turn them into neutrals, making the service appear as though everything is OK. If one is keen enough, they have 114 claims (formerly user complaints until Best change made them neutral) vs 156 Positive reviews! That quite a high number for an exchange service

It is sad to see that they ^Bestchange are ruining their reputation and quality of service. And that by protecting services like Simpleswap and similar. I was in their signature campaign for a long time. It seemed like they cared more about end users.

[alxSS]

The AML policy excuse has now become an easy way to scam crypto users, and these exchanges are constantly harassing crypto users using this excuse. The reputation of these exchanges is already very bad on this forum, but you go to bestchange and you will see these scam exchanges listed and even bestchange is helping these exchanges to run these scams. Look at the review pages of SimpleSwap, Changelly, changenow and many other exchanges. You will see the condition of those review pages on bestchange, they have created a situation like a torture cell. Crypto users are being scammed out of millions of dollars on this pretext. Crypto users should not really trust any of these people, crypto users should exchange small amounts. These are greedy scammers, they wait for you to exchange large amounts and trap you to scam you.

It is unfortunate that I have tried to work on such cases in the past to resolve them, but with the support of many, including bestchange, these exchanges continue their business without resolving the problem. Because they do not face any obstacles even if they scam one after another.

Is there anything I can do besides opening a claim on BestChange?

[ScamViruS]

~~~

Is there anything I can do besides opening a claim on BestChange?

Bestchange has not responded to your case yet, so wait and see what they decide on your case. If they side with the scammers this time too, then you need to understand their intentions and that these scams are planned.

We need to write about them and against them on different platforms. To warn crypto users, so that a safer crypto community can be created.

[alxSS]

~~~

Is there anything I can do besides opening a claim on BestChange?

Bestchange has not responded to your case yet, so wait and see what they decide on your case. If they side with the scammers this time too, then you need to understand their intentions and that these scams are planned.

We need to write about them and against them on different platforms. To warn crypto users, so that a safer crypto community can be created.

Alright, thank you. I filed a negative review on TrustPilot as well just in case.

[ABCbits]

PM/Chat Logs: https://ibb.co/sJ3PD4c7

The website says "That page doesn't exist The requested page was not found.". You may want to reupload the image and make sure you shared correct link.

The image is opening fine for me and it has views on it already 

You're right, although i found the actual reason. The website seems to block you if you use certain type of connection or browser. Anyway, i notice the chat is quite long. If you could whole chat (excluding your personal information), you can convince more people to avoid this website.

[alxSS]

Decided to co-operate with them. Sent them more documents.

[logfiles]

It is sad to see that they ^Bestchange are ruining their reputation and quality of service. And that by protecting services like Simpleswap and similar. I was in their signature campaign for a long time. It seemed like they cared more about end users.

At some point I felt like maybe they changed part of the team because this can not be the old best change I used to know. They would listen to feedback from the community and make some changes whenever they could. In fact, if I recall so well, they even had a link for suggestions

Decided to co-operate with them. Sent them more documents.

Please do give as an update in case of any changes.

[alxSS]

It is sad to see that they ^Bestchange are ruining their reputation and quality of service. And that by protecting services like Simpleswap and similar. I was in their signature campaign for a long time. It seemed like they cared more about end users.

At some point I felt like maybe they changed part of the team because this can not be the old best change I used to know. They would listen to feedback from the community and make some changes whenever they could. In fact, if I recall so well, they even had a link for suggestions

Decided to co-operate with them. Sent them more documents.

Please do give as an update in case of any changes.

I will

[alxSS]

I'm disappointed a lot that instead of waking up to my issue being resolved & money refunded, I woke up to SimpleSwap reporting my TrustPilot review as not genuine despite me being truthful & provided all details there.

Proof: https://i.imgur.com/OUyn8o1.jpeg
My Review https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/68e1971e70688781d568dea1

I'm gonna provide even more details to TrustPilot and take this to Reddit & X as well since SimpleSwap cares more about removing their negative reviews rather than solving them.

They still haven't released my money despite my wallet addresses passing all AML checks.

[Trêvoid]

Hi,

Sorry OP but Bestchange is not helpful in this situation. Their policy on AML / KYC disputes between exchangers and customers is straightforward: if AMLBot reports a high risk score, Bestchange labels the customer as a criminal or terrorist and others...

result is always the same = customers lose their crypto.

[alxSS]

Hi,

Sorry OP but Bestchange is not helpful in this situation. Their policy on AML / KYC disputes between exchangers and customers is straightforward: if AMLBot reports a high risk score, Bestchange labels the customer as a criminal or terrorist and others...

result is always the same = customers lose their crypto.

Damn