I was Involved In A Trading Scam A year ago I talked to someone on the internet, and the person referred me to this crypto broker named as "Scott". The person vouched for Scott and said a lot of good things about him, so I believed. Upon connecting to Scott on his What'sApp Business account, my impression was it was a business account so it must be real. Scott informed me that he had a legitimate broker license, and he would never do anything illegal nor jeopardize his family. Okay, seems great right? We had only been exchanging messages, and sometimes he would answer my trading questions with something that doesn't make any sense, like he was drunk.
He asked me to create an account on a crypto trading platform "legionfxtrade", and requested to submit my personal identity like my driver license, address, etc, in order to "verify" my identity. So I did. A quick look at the website shows the layout was probably built by some interns who just started learning web development.
Scott then instructed me how to invest in the platform. I chose to invest in a small amount of BTC, since the platform only used btc addresses as form of investment. Scott then used some kind of "algorithm" to trade with my funds and gained some profits. Then came the fees, the platform requested me to pay up the brokerage fees before they will send me my profits. I paid almost 50% of the profit just for the fees alone, but thankfully it was not a huge amount so I was cool with it. I did receive my profits in btc, so far so good, and Scott wanted me to put those funds back into investing. I refused at that time because I was really short on funds to pay for bills.
The thoughts of paying high brokerage fees scared me, so I did not invest with Scott for a long while. Scott kept urging me to invest again, and mentioned that money did fall from the sky if I invest. Then fast forward came the time when inflation was high and economy was very tight. The acquaintance reached out to me and asked me why I was not investing with Scott, and pressured me to start again so I can get profits. We had some back and forth and finally came to the deal the person would "help" me pay for the fees.
So I cave and requested investment again, this time Scott said he worked for another trading platform "metae5exchange", the website layout seems a bit more sophisticated and mentioned it specialized in both cryptocurrencies and forex trading. I was not able to find any information about this website on Google, but I trusted Scott since I had done business with him. Again I submitted my personal identity information and invested with cryptocurrencies. I inquired Scott how the trade would work, Scott replied I should have known this already, and said to simply choose him as my "copy trader". I was more confused because I did not see his name in the list, but some random names as "Adams Smith". Scott said that was him, so I chose that name, and began the trade. I inquired Scott how long it would go, he said he "did not know" until the trade ends. So I waited until about a whole week later, and the profit came out to be 2400%!! I didn't believe it at first, but I didn't question it since I had faith in Scott. Immediately Scott asked me to start withdraw, and I did.
Once I withdraw, the platform began asking for brokerage fees, then capitol gain fees and only accepted payment in crypto addresses. I asked for the acquaintance for help, and I end up receiving only little help. The acquaintance instead told me was "having issue" with his friends that owed him money. So I end up paid most of the fees, then I heard nothing back until Scott informed me my withdraw "had completed". So I waited for my profits to came, and never came. Then the next day Scott told me my withdrawal crypto address "was invalid" and withdraw had "failed". He said I probably made some typo in my address, and urged me to make a new withdraw request. Then the firm requested some bogus fees called "harmonizing fees to restart process" which was very high and said once I paid the fees, withdraw would be complete. So I looked to borrow funds and pay the fees. Then, to my astonishment, the firm requested "IRS tax fees", which left me very confused and upset, so I didn't pay. I asked Scott why I was stuck in this endless fee cycle while they hold my profits hostage. He basically said that was how trading works at the platform.
It was around the same time FTX collapsed and the entire crypto industry was in turmoil, metae5exchange went down and Scott told me the platform was "affected".
Then two months later, a new platform "DaleTrades" reached out to me, and informed me that Scott requested my profits to be transferred to this platform. I inquired about the fees, and Scott said this time will be the final fee. So again I made an account and provided my personal identity to the platform, but a quick look has a very similar layout as metae5exchange. I paid the final fee as requested by the platform, but I was told that receiving btc address has "just expired" due to some bogus bitcoin operation stuff, and requested me to make a new payment. So basically, my funds were lost.
Couple days later, I checked on the address, it shows it made another transaction, which confirmed my suspicion. I reached out to the firm and Scott, and both made up some very vague responses and completely false information. Communicating with those people made me lose my brain cells and I felt like I was talking to some non English speakers.
I was furious, and told Scott he betrayed my trust and the broker-client relationship, and reported his WhatsApp Business account. Scott got upset, which is very ironic, he reached out to the acquaintance and basically told him it was "his mistake" to bring me onboard. I think this is very unprofessional, since this person Scott is supposed to be a broker, and not a friend, nor a boss. I invested in his service, but I gained nothing in return. Then the next day the trading site locked my account and told me I "violated the tos until further review", which is complete bs.
​ What are your guys thoughts? I just want to put it out here to warn anyone to make sure to be aware of what you are investing into and look out for any red flags, however little it is. When you are asked to send fees via crypto addresses, I believe it is most likely scam because cryptocurrencies lack security and transactions can only go in one direction. Also if someone claimed to be broker and yet kept jumping from one business to another, that should also be a red flag in my opinion. I think what happened is that Scott worked with a group of oversea scammers, built up some website and kept changing domains to avoid government surveillance.
TLDR: I was connected to this "broker" called Scott. He asked me to invest in some trading platforms. I was met with fees after fees and more fees while my funds were held hostage. I believe the whole thing was a professional scam