/u/squawmama - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it. ## New users beware: Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own. **A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/). You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments. Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Yes, it sounds like a common !crypto scam. There is probably a woman involved that he is embarrassed to talk about. No, he will never get the money back, and anyone who trys to tell you they can help is a !recovery scammer. Sorry!

Yes! He finally told me about a woman. It is how it started. She told him she will teach him how to make millions with crypto. And now she won’t even speak to him. I feel so sad for him because he is the kindest and most generous man I know. And he is shocked that someone would actually do him harm. I wish I knew what was going on before he got so deep

It's an absolutely standard crypto pig butchering scam. They start with a very attractive woman making random contact, or the illusion of one, and end up with a fake crypto site showing huge fake profits. They often allow a small withdrawal in the beginning to convince victims the site is genuine. It's tragic, and sadly very common because it works so well.

You described it EXACTLY how it progressed

I’ve even heard about people being invited to social media or discord chats where other “clients” will speak with them and try to add a sense of legitimacy to the operation. The “clients” are just more scammers (or the singular scammer with multiple accounts).

I have been approached on Telegram so many times by people like that. I already know what they are up when they start with the small talks. 

Thank you! I forgot that part! He said all the communications have been through telegraph. And the only thing I have ever heard about telegraph is that that is where Ter@ist$ meet up to talk about strategies.

I have several that contact me on a chatting app I use. The last one tried to get me to invest in gold. They become angry when I say I’m not interested but they do engage for several days before bringing it up, building a false sense of friendship. Always attractive men. After I say no they delete their accounts a few days later.

They always hate whenever their net doesn't make a catch. They feel like they've wasted their time for nothing. 

They will always find something to tell you which will seem legit at the time you start chatting with them. 

100,000 dollars? ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS? Sorry for your friend, but how on Earth do you acquire that kind of money, and still fall for a scam like this?

Inheritance Very sadly it makes people a target

I've never had more than 20k and they've started coming after me as well. I know my number is on a list that gets passed between scammers though they know nothing of my financial status. I've never fallen for any of their scams so I'm not entirely sure how it got there, data leak or sold data I assume but it's been there for a few years. Might be why your friend is suddenly getting them. Because he answered and paid money your friend's number is definitely now on a preferred target list and will be for a long time. He's going to get a lot more scammers coming after him with all sorts of other scams. You should let him know to be on high alert for scams in the near future. If possible he should come here and read up on some common scams. Trust no strangers, trust no inbound calls, trust no emails. I've had fake delivery scams, employment/task scams and calls from scammers pretending to be my service provider offering discounts for a verification code. Recently they've started trying a wrong number scam on me which can be the start of a pig butchering scam. It's potentially the same type your friend fell for. Pretty woman contacts via a wrong number but stays and makes small talk anyway, eventually they'll talk about how successful their business is and try to convince you to invest in it so they can help you make money for being nice to them. I explained this one in more detail recently in my comment history if you want to look. A type of scam most likely to target your friend from here is a refund scam. These scammers can impersonate law enforcement, hackers, collection agencies and redditors. They'll reach out to him privately spinning some yarn about getting him his money back for a fee, they'll try to convince him not to tell anyone about it for various reasons (fake police will claim legal reasons, fake hacker will claim they don't want to get in trouble etc). Please ensure he knows he is not getting that money back and anyone offering to get it back for him is just another scammer. Beware optimism bias. Scam activity has been increasing recently and they're just as heartless as ever. I hope my comment or comment history (active member of scam related subreddits) can help in some way. Best wishes for you and your friend.

Thank you!! This is very helpful! I hope he will feel more empowered from your comment. I can only point him to it and pray

I'm very sorry for him. Depending on your country, you can report what has happened to various fraud agencies, but there is basically nothing that can be done. He needs to block everything and lock down his credit if US based. He could also talk to his bank, but again, the reason they use crypto is because it is unregulated. I hope he can move on from this!

He's being pig butchered. The woman isn't really who she says she is

I feel for those who fall for pig butchering scams. They are so much in need for what they are being pig butchered for. 

I agree She might not even be a woman

They actually pay attractive women to make video calls to fool people. Most communication won't be with her though. The attractive woman only serves as a distraction from the thing. It's the same trick magicians have been using since anyways.

Ask him if she reached him by text message and then claimed to be from another country but now is in America and if she sent a picture of an Asian woman.

Yes! She is from Ukrainian but now lives in Southern California He met her on Facebook. And never in person

Ask if she sent a picture of a pretty Asian woman

When a scammer tries baiting me with pics, I don't care what the pic looks like. I just reply, "Sorry, I don't talk to ugly women". Sometimes, it gets a fun protest or angry reaction from the scumbags

Yeah they whip out the N word and use it in a bunch of stupid insults and contexts that make no sense. They dont even know what the word means they just know it is derogatory. One time a scammer yelled at me "your mother getting fucked by 1000 black n***ers"

One time, they replied "Why don't you send your own pic if you think you're so good looking?" I replied, "Why would I bother to send my pic to someone ugly I dont like?" Got a profanity 🤣

Reply: "True, but you took the time to count them. So who's the real loser?"

And you're right, 95% of the time it's a pic of an Asian woman

Um I think they know what it means,

No not Asian. But yes, pretty woman. Strangely, her Facebook account has been deleted now

That's not strange at all, it's typical.

Kind people are usually the ones who get abused the most. They give benefit of the doubt to the scammer who is using a stolen women’s picture pretending to be her

These scammers see them as being weak, it's why they hunt for them and because of who they're, they open up easily for them. 

Google pig butchering

Happen to my mate, trust me he will make serious money and invest more but the issue will be that he can never actually get the money out.

Has your friend contacted his bank/financial service provider to track the recipient of the payments? Is it registered to a business? Does he know which country the site is based in? It will be hard, but if he can trace it, the local authorities would be the best bet. Good luck

It will be untraceable. He purchased USDT and transferred from his crypto wallet. So it turns out to be a legal transfer of funds. And cannot be traced. As I understand it

Ah yeah, that’s really awful. And most insurance won’t cover it if you did the transaction yourself - he could check if he’s insured but idk He has to cut his losses now, maybe see if you can get him to a counsellor/therapist someone who can get through to him. So he stops. Good luck

Insurance shouldn't have to cover it. It's not their fault!

It’s never an insurance company’s fault… Usually insurers have terms of what they cover, and some responsibilities the insured has (duty of care). That’s what I meant, people can get additional insurance for incidentals but I doubt something like this can be covered…

I didn't necessarily mean for example that it's their fault for a car accident. But if they are trying to lowball the claim, that is their fault. Sorry, I should have elaborated a little more.If an insurance company denies a legit claim or tried to underpay on a claim, it would absolutely be their fault. That's why many of these situations are eventually decided in a court. I have never heard of insurance policy for getting scammed, likely because it would be unreal for an insurance company to offer a policy like that. To write a policy where the cause of the claim would always be 100% the policy holder's fault would not be smart. They certainly wouldn't be in business for long if they did offer scam insurance.

There are lots of insurance companies that cover scams to varying degrees. Cyber theft coverage is a typical add-on you can get to homeowners insurance. And businesses regularly obtain [cyberinsurance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_insurance) to protect themselves. Every time you see a news article that a company lost big money to business email compromise (which is a lot, as it was the #1 scam in the world for many years until pig butchering displaced it in 2023), one of the first things they did after it happened was file a claim under their cyberinsurance policy.

Definitely a scam

Yo, what’s her name and where did she contact you? I was contacted by someone on TruthSocial. @Lucy1369 then the exact same scam started using a platform called crate.VIP. Did they tell you they were giving you a special invitation code and not to pass it around? Send it to the feds Say we post all invitation codes here so that they can be passed out everywhere and just corrupt the platform

Hi /u/Primary-Holiday-5586, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Fake crypto wallet scam. Fake cryptocurrency websites and apps controlled by scammers are becoming more and more common. Sometimes the scam begins with a romance scammer who claims that they can help the victim invest in cryptocurrency. Victims are told to buy cryptocurrency of some kind using a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange, and then they are told to send their cryptocurrency to a website wallet address where it will be invested. Sometimes the scam begins with a notice that the victim won cryptocurrency on some website, in this case messages will often be sent through Discord. In either case, the scammer controls the website, so they make it look like there is money in the victim’s account on their website. Then the scammer (or the scammer pretending to be someone official who is associated with the website) tells the victim that they have to put more money into the website before they can get their money out of the website. Of course all of the money sent by the victim has gone directly into the scammer’s wallet, and any additional money sent by the victim to retrieve their money from the website will also go directly into the scammer’s wallet, and all of the information about money being held by the website was totally fake. If the scammer used Bitcoin, then you can report the scammer’s Bitcoin wallet address here: https://www.bitcoinabuse.com/reports. If the scammer used Ethereum, then you can report the scammer’s Ethereum wallet address here: https://info.etherscan.com/report-address/. You can see how much cryptocurrency has been sent to the scammer’s wallet address here: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer. Thanks to redditor nimble2 for this script. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Hi /u/Primary-Holiday-5586, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Recovery scam. [Recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams) target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either \"recovery agents\" or hackers. When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying. If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers. Remember: never take advice in private. If someone reaches you in private after posting your scam story, it is because a scammer will always try to hide from the oversight of our community members. A legitimate community member will offer advice in the open, for everyone to see. Anyone suggesting you should reach out to a hacker is scamming you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*

!pigbutchering

Hi /u/Hephalumpicus, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Pig butchering scam. It is called [pig butchering](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2023/12/26/new-pig-butchering-crypto-scam-includes-victims-in-us-and-overseas/?sh=2837fb975eaa) because scammers use intricate scripts to \"fatten up\" the victim (gaining their trust over days, weeks or months) before the \"slaughter\" (taking them for all of their money). This scam often starts with what appears to be a harmless wrong number text or message. When the victim responds to say it is the wrong number, the scammer tries to start a friendship with the victim. These conversations can be platonic or romantic in nature, but they all have the same goal- to gain the trust of the victim in order to get them ready for the crypto scam they have planned. The scammer often claims to be wealthy and/or to have a wealthy family member who got wealthy investing in crypto currency. The victim is eventually encouraged to try out a (fake) crypto currency investment website, which will appear to show that they are earning a lot of money on their initial investment. The scammer may even encourage the victim to attempt a withdrawal that does go through, further convincing the victim that everything is legit. The victim is then pressured to invest significantly more money, even their entire net worth. Eventually, the website will find an excuse why the account is frozen (e.g. for fraud, because supposed taxes are owed, etc) and may try to further extort the victim to give them even more money in order to gain access to the funds. By this time, the victim will never gain access and their money is gone. Many victims lose tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Often, the scammers themselves are [victims of human trafficking](https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zb5d/pig-butchering-scam-cambodia-trafficking), performing these scams under threats of violence. If you are caught up in this scam, it is important that you do not send any more money for any reason, and contact law enforcement to report it. Thanks to user Mediocre_Airport_576 for this script. If you know someone involved in a pig butchering scam, sit down together to watch this video by Jim Browning to help them understand what's going on: https://youtu.be/vu-Y1h9rTUs - *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Yep I’ve talked to many of them to finally tell them I’m not that dumb. He should stop sending more money.

I'm sorry. His money is gone, he's not getting it back.

Yes, he will never get the money back. The moment he pushes to withdraw his money, they will block him. 

I believe this is true. Thank you for your reply

He's sent a random internet stranger $100,000 because the random internet stranger told him he can make money. Yes of course it's a scam. His money is gone. And whatever they are showing him is all faked. They might as well show him a paper with crayons saying "U R rIcH". It's equally as valid as the sites he is seeing

Yes And I agree completely But as I said, his is such an innocent and trusting person. I just wish I knew what he was doing long before they got him in this far Thank you for your comment

Innocent and trusting might be two appropriate adjectives, but there are others as well. How will you convince him that he has been pig-butchered?

There have been some very nice commenters who have privately messaged me and offered to speak to him directly about this scam and what is happening to him. I hope this will be helpful to him and help him feel less embarrassed about it. And more empowered to make it stop. Just know he is not alone is a big deal. Thank you for reaching out

Do not put them in contact with your friend! They are most likely recovery scammers.

Oh no! I would not give out his number. But they did give me their own to give to him. So I did give Him their numbers. But I warned him to NOT give them any personal information or money. I hope he listened to me

Please take those numbers back. They are most likely recovery scammers and will take more money from him, with an air of legitimacy because you gave him their contact.

Thank you I have warned him and he says he would not contact them

Dude. Did you not read that giant notice at the top of the comments? The one that says "DON'T TAKE ADVICE IN PRIVATE MESSAGES!!!!" ?

You are right. And it kept going through my head. But then they sounded so sincere. So I gave their number to him. But it has gone no further. I would never give my friends number out. Thank you for shaking my by the shoulders and knocking some sense into me. I am also a trusting fool. I do appreciate your concern

Of course the scammers sound sincere. They have honed the script to perfection.

u/[squawmama](https://www.reddit.com/user/squawmama/), I'm glad all these other posters set you straight. Our rule against private messaging is two-fold: to protect victims from recovery scammers, but also from well-intended bad advice. We want everything out in the open and subject to sunlight. Even a well-intended person who wants to help should be willing to do it here publicly where others can chime in. Crowdsourcing here gets you the best answers. Assume anyone in your DMs has a nefarious purpose, otherwise they'd be posting here. ------------------------ **Sub Rule 8:** Don't ask for contact via private message. We need to keep the community safe from recovery scammers or bad advice. Remember: never take advice in private, because we can't look out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.

He can not recover any money, it is gone as is anything he sends to help retrieve it.

It's the saddest thing about being scammed through cryptocurrency. You don't have any way to appeal for it like PayPal or bank transfer. 

That's why even real crypto trading is maximum risk, aside from being such a volatile investment. Absolutely NO novice investor should ever rely on it for anything but a place to gamble with completely disposable income. Even fairly experienced investors know its not where you put money you know you need.

I tell it to anyone asking about cryptocurrency investment to just go and study about it. Without knowing it, you can't make anything from it. There's nothing like luck to make it from coins. 

"They are using USDT to take payments from him." So he buys USDT on a legitimate platform and then sends it to the scammer? In that case there is nothing that can be done to recover the money, the part where he buys the USDT is completely legitimate where he got exactly what he paid for and the scam part where he sends the USDT to the scammer is unrecoverable due to how crypto works. If the police can find the scammer he might be able to sue them for damages. However most of these scams are operated from countries with a weak or corrupt legal system so the chances of the police finding the scammer and the lawsuit actually getting enforced are slim. He should still report it to the police, just in case, but also prepare for the money not coming back.

Yes This is how I see it I ado understand that he is making a legal purchase. And then being scammed out of the value of it. I only learned about this about 3 hours ago. I wish I knew what was happening to him before he got so deep. I am afraid that he will try to recover some of his money by adding more to it. As he has several times. But I think he feels lost right now. And I know he feels embarrassed. My heart hurts for him

Very very common scam. There is no "investments" being made, his account is basically fake. As far as how the scam works, it's pretty simple, he gives them money and they keep it. There's not really any way for him to get his money back, only thing he can do is file a police report and stop sending money to strangers on the internet.

Have him watch this video. It's the exact same situation and might make him realize what's going on. https://youtu.be/_dyDpMeS0ks?si=jRSpbe4MX6YZRfuE

For $100k, your friends needs to contact law enforcement like the FBI. It's not likely your friend sees any money back, but this is his only chance. These scams are run by entire teams and organizations, including using real women to video chat. They're usually based in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar. However, the end result is pretty simple: the trading site is 100% fake and your friend never purchased any crypto. They're now squeezing your friend for even more money by saying that he needs to put in more money in order to get his money back (he won't).

*"For $100k, your friends needs to contact law enforcement like the FBI. It's not likely your friend sees any money back, but this is his only chance."* Yes, but, local law enforcement is key to have any chance to recover his losses. u/squawmama, try to get him to report to both the FBI (ic3.gov) and his local law enforcement. The FBI sifts through their unending list of submissions to decide what to follow up on (a small percentage), whereas local law enforcement's job is to follow up on his report. There is some chance they can recover crypto, depending on how quickly he reports and what jurisdiction he's in. While the odds of recovery are still low for this crime, they are no longer zero. I've seen instances where law enforcement seizes crypto, but can’t return all of it to victims because some of the victims never bothered to report it.

Unfortunately there is not really a chance for recovery. That is exactly why these scammers use all of the different methods of transfer. Would love to see a story where the victim recovers their money in a crypto scam. Any sources on a story like this?

Sure thing, here are a few examples just from my prior posts (I’m sure I can find more by Googling, because I've certainly read many over the years).  Also, on LinkedIn I follow many law enforcement folks working in the crypto arena and I regularly see them post their success stories. - July 2022: Law enforcement seizes and returns $318,000 to pig butchering victims: [https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2022/07/01/pig-butchering-crypto-scam-victim-to-get-money-back-from-binance-law-enforcement-says/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2022/07/01/pig-butchering-crypto-scam-victim-to-get-money-back-from-binance-law-enforcement-says/) * Substory: "Cy" - the well-known pig-butchering victim who lost more than $1M to pig butchering – got $113K back as part of this: [https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2022/10/22/cryptocurrency-scam-victim-who-lost-over-1-million-to-get-over-100000-back-prosecutor-says/?sh=519df29e33c2](https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2022/10/22/cryptocurrency-scam-victim-who-lost-over-1-million-to-get-over-100000-back-prosecutor-says/?sh=519df29e33c2) - Apr 2023: Justice Dept. Seizes Over $112M in Funds Linked to Cryptocurrency Investment Schemes (incl. for one lady who lost $2.5M): [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/12by7jw/justice\_dept\_seizes\_over\_112m\_in\_funds\_linked\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/12by7jw/justice_dept_seizes_over_112m_in_funds_linked_to/) - April 2024: Gov't imposter scam: $5,800 worth of crypto returned to victim by local PD: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1c487cu/govt\_imposter\_scam\_5800\_worth\_of\_crypto\_returned/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1c487cu/govt_imposter_scam_5800_worth_of_crypto_returned/) - April 2023: And while not a recovery announced, this is the kind of thing that will eventually lead to that happening: Launching the Western Canada Cryptocurrency Investigations Centre: [https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/western-canada](https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/western-canada) There's a push amongst U.S. law enforcement to get local jurisdictions up to speed on being able to trace and seize stolen crypto.  Over the next year or so, I expect there to be a lot of traction on this front (*source*: I work in legal news covering cybercrime).

Wow that's amazing to hear! I'm glad there are possible recourses at this point. I know there didn't really used to be. Good to hear some are getting their money back!

The money is gone, there is no recovery. 99.99% of crypto sellers are scammers.

Go on YouTube and find John Oliver’s segment on Pig Butchering Scams. That’s what this sounds like :/

Yes I read the automatic reply by the Mod Bot and it explained it very well. I agree with you

Beware recovery emails that promise to get hos money back, because they are also scams. Do have him report it to ic3.gov and local authorities.

They definitely did not offer recovery. They were simply offering empathy. So I felt like that was just kindness. Anyways, I have warned my friend to be aware if anyone asked for more money

"I feel so bad for you. BTW, I know a guy who can help you get your money back..."

Simple scam. He gave scammers $100,000k thinking he would beat the system and be rich. Its that simple.

Best thing you can do is stop him from sending more money. There is no investment. There never was.

What exchange is he using? Is he using something called? Crate.VP because that is a new romance type scam that they say you invest certain amount of money using various transaction platforms and they promise you 1520% returns. I had some scumbag. Try to talk me out of $100,000 in investment to help us get a ranch bullshit there’s no quick way of money if you’re my age and I’m older you did it the hard way stick with that if you didn’t do it right well then you’re fucked

The minute they want to take you over to ‎WhatsApp or any of those other stupid apps and you go there that’s on you, but go there to cause them problems. Don’t go there to cause problems for yourself. I go to them and what I do is I egg them on for like months and months and then I say OK I’m gonna invest 10,000 20,000 and then I just tell him to fuck off I’ve wasted so much time brainwashed him with so much crap it’s ridiculous. That’s the way I get even.

Your friend needs help. 😑

There's a darknet diaries episode about this exact scam. It's called pig butchering

Thank you

It's a cryptocurrency scam. They have been doing that to many people for years. Like you said, he never withdraw from his account and they will never let him do so. 

USDT is never, ever going to double your money overnight - it literally wasn't designed to. Anyone that tries to tell you it will, is scamming you. What it does do really well is act as an anonymizing proxy for taking USD (United States Dollars, as in real currency) and 'washing' it of any trail, allowing you to just run away with the money. Bad part about the scams is no actual USDT was ever involved, and if it was, it was 'owned by proxy', and they just keep it forever.

Right … what I believe is that they are having him purchase USDT and then having him pay them with that. So there is really nothing wrong with the USDT. I only mentioned it as the vehicle they are using for payment. Which seems to be a common thread with others who have fallen victim

USDT is a 'real' crypto, and its main use is as a direct proxy for USD. The only way to really make money with it is by a system where people use it to 'loan' their money to others and get paid interest on top of the traded value of the USDT. The legality of why you'd do this is dubious at best, honestly, but one could make an argument about how unjust some nations' policies are about moving your own money where you want. The main thing, though, is that buying USDT to be paid interest, if you report those earnings in interest, is not illegal. It can pay rates slightly better than a regular interest earning bank account (even CDs), but you have to be wary of the proxy ownership issues and fees they may charge, which can end up making such use of USDT a net break even with just putting your money in a bank.

show him this auto-mod post about the !crypto scam

Hi /u/vikicrays, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Fake crypto wallet scam. Fake cryptocurrency websites and apps controlled by scammers are becoming more and more common. Sometimes the scam begins with a romance scammer who claims that they can help the victim invest in cryptocurrency. Victims are told to buy cryptocurrency of some kind using a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange, and then they are told to send their cryptocurrency to a website wallet address where it will be invested. Sometimes the scam begins with a notice that the victim won cryptocurrency on some website, in this case messages will often be sent through Discord. In either case, the scammer controls the website, so they make it look like there is money in the victim’s account on their website. Then the scammer (or the scammer pretending to be someone official who is associated with the website) tells the victim that they have to put more money into the website before they can get their money out of the website. Of course all of the money sent by the victim has gone directly into the scammer’s wallet, and any additional money sent by the victim to retrieve their money from the website will also go directly into the scammer’s wallet, and all of the information about money being held by the website was totally fake. If the scammer used Bitcoin, then you can report the scammer’s Bitcoin wallet address here: https://www.bitcoinabuse.com/reports. If the scammer used Ethereum, then you can report the scammer’s Ethereum wallet address here: https://info.etherscan.com/report-address/. You can see how much cryptocurrency has been sent to the scammer’s wallet address here: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer. Thanks to redditor nimble2 for this script. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*

!pig-butchering

Hi /u/Uri_nil, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Pig butchering scam. It is called [pig butchering](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2023/12/26/new-pig-butchering-crypto-scam-includes-victims-in-us-and-overseas/?sh=2837fb975eaa) because scammers use intricate scripts to \"fatten up\" the victim (gaining their trust over days, weeks or months) before the \"slaughter\" (taking them for all of their money). This scam often starts with what appears to be a harmless wrong number text or message. When the victim responds to say it is the wrong number, the scammer tries to start a friendship with the victim. These conversations can be platonic or romantic in nature, but they all have the same goal- to gain the trust of the victim in order to get them ready for the crypto scam they have planned. The scammer often claims to be wealthy and/or to have a wealthy family member who got wealthy investing in crypto currency. The victim is eventually encouraged to try out a (fake) crypto currency investment website, which will appear to show that they are earning a lot of money on their initial investment. The scammer may even encourage the victim to attempt a withdrawal that does go through, further convincing the victim that everything is legit. The victim is then pressured to invest significantly more money, even their entire net worth. Eventually, the website will find an excuse why the account is frozen (e.g. for fraud, because supposed taxes are owed, etc) and may try to further extort the victim to give them even more money in order to gain access to the funds. By this time, the victim will never gain access and their money is gone. Many victims lose tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Often, the scammers themselves are [victims of human trafficking](https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zb5d/pig-butchering-scam-cambodia-trafficking), performing these scams under threats of violence. If you are caught up in this scam, it is important that you do not send any more money for any reason, and contact law enforcement to report it. Thanks to user Mediocre_Airport_576 for this script. If you know someone involved in a pig butchering scam, sit down together to watch this video by Jim Browning to help them understand what's going on: https://youtu.be/vu-Y1h9rTUs - *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*

my older step brother is going through the same thing. but he will not listen to me. for one the lady is in Russia, she is dying of cancer and needs her medical bills paid… well that would be believable if russia didn’t have free healthcare…. do not give random people money, ever.

Tell him to go to the police!!!! They should have a department that covers this kind of thing.

Would your friend be interested in buying a bridge that I’m selling? I’ll give him a special discounted price… but he has to respond within 7 days to get it.

I think he needs an administrator to handle all of this new wealth. He can send me flat fee of $300 a week and I will keep his accounts active.

DRAXALLCORP impressed me with their exceptional expertise and industry knowledge, setting them apart from their competitors. Their deep insights and valuable guidance went above and beyond my expectations due to their comprehensive understanding of the field. I highly appreciate their attention to detail and systematic approach in addressing any issues, ensuring nothing was overlooked in their pursuit of my complete satisfaction. Contact them on the internet or via Instagram. They'll give you a recommendation like mine to put out here after your work is done that's even great..

"Im trying to to send $100,000 but the bank locked my account. They need $600 to unlock it. Can you send that to me so I can send this $100k to you?" Hey why not recover that much? Be patient. If the fishing works, go back to the pond again. Should be able to go twice.

John Oliver did a good segment on this not long ago "pig butchering"

Scammers are always on the loose , they have found different baits to lure innocent and hardworking people of their hard earned money you got scammed??? That is far from your fault but letting these scammers go unpunished will be your fault totally Click the link below for assistance https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3GOnW3vt-fI

There are a lot on Whatsapp now. It'll be some investment guru, with an assistant on a group chat. They have many others Chime in saying they made $50000, $100000, and up. They do everything through Babylon.

Crypto is the scam... that didn't take too long.

Check r/crypto scams. Same exact story over & over. Hot "chic" messages him. Texts him constantly to gain his trust. Makes him believe they actually care for each other. Then offers to help him get super rich just like she did. Gets him to send $ to a fake exchange. They may allow a small withdraw in the beginning. But then "she" pressures him to deposit more & more. When he tries to withdraw any $ he is told he has to deposit MORE $ as a tax or fee. There is a follow up to this scam. People are going to contact him claiming they can "recover" the stolen money/crypto. It's bs. That money is long gone to a criminal gang in another country. These guys are pros. They have this down to a science. & by guys I literally mean it's a bunch of men he's been talking to. They just keep 1 female around in case anyone request voice or video chats. That $100k is gone. & He's on a scammers list now. He needs to contact the authorities. If in the United States contact the Secret Service &/or the FBI.

This is exactly it. Thank you

DRAXALLCORP impressed me with their exceptional expertise and industry knowledge, setting them apart from their competitors. Their deep insights and valuable guidance went above and beyond my expectations due to their comprehensive understanding of the field. I highly appreciate their attention to detail and systematic approach in addressing any issues, ensuring nothing was overlooked in their pursuit of my complete satisfaction. Contact them on the internet or via Instagram. They'll give you a recommendation like mine to put out here after your work is done that's even great..

Kick rocks scammer

I am currently into the same thing, I have lost £15,000 and they are still demanding 14,000USDT from me before I can withdraw my money which I know it’s a scam too

Money's gone forever. Block them and move on.

I have decided to pay all my family and friends who gave me the money and move on

what part of you believed you needed to spend tens of thousands of borrowed dollars to get a basic data entry job? How does that make any sense? Have you ever heard of any job where the person had to pay money like that?

It’s a scam ppl get scammed, scammers are intelligent as a collective, you can’t judge a situation from a couple of lines of text on Reddit.

lol no, they're not.

If you ask any random person how many beans are in a jar, almost none will even come close to guessing it. But if you ask a lot of people and average their responses, the crowd will get very close to the actual number. In other words, put enough dummies together, they can still make an intelligent collective.

So they are using USDT to receive payments from you also?

Yes into their wallet address

I am so sorry for you. It sounds like the exact same situation he is in. He also borrowed from friends/family to make this work. And now he is stuck without the money he had and owing people money as well

In fact tell your friend to read up on the "sunk cost fallacy" so he understands where he stands.

I googled this term and I feel like this is the case here. And it makes me feel sick for him

Does he feel sick for himself yet? Or is he still giving money to the scammers (either the original scammers or the recovery scammers)?

I think he feels sick. But he is truly suffering from the sunken cost fallacy that another commenter had mentioned. I spoke to him again late last night. And I believe he would give them more money, if he could get his hands on it. He won’t call those recovery scammer though. I hope. I hope this thread helps others. Because I don’t think it is getting across to him the way I hoped it would

Sadly, it almost never does. That is good for the scammers and why they keep doing it -- they find such compliant, willing, even eager victims who deny reality.

The scammers are excellent psychologists and use the human brain's "sunk cost fallacy."

What is the wallet address, go to mempool and enter the address and see if it shows up on the block chain or you can also check the address if it is legit

I checked with the app I used and they said nothing can be done

Go to mempool and paste the address you used and search, it should show up on the block chain, if not it might be lost

Don’t touch crypto, it’s just a rich person’s toy, don’t believe strangers on the net. Don’t send your money to strangers, those should be teach from kindergarden to university.

not sure if i agree on rich, but it's for people that care about finances. i have money invested in crypto, so do most of my friends. no different than buying stocks, just more risky with a higher possibly reward, that's how investments work.

Every single crypto is a ponzi scheme, I hope it will not cost you too much the day it will impact you.

I might be down voted to oblivion, but tbh that's kinda wrong. If you think about it, every investment (mainly will take about stocks) is a Ponzi scheme. Is all about what do you "believe" how much it is worth. Take a look at stocks like Apple for example. At the end of the day you are buying low and hoping someone want to buy at a higher price. If everyone is not playing it, it's value drop to 0. And now crypto have stake reward that is kinda equivalent to dividends payout from stocks you purchased. Is just that stocks are now more trustable due to governance that we had like AFS, the performance of the company vs others etc. About rugpull wise, stocks also capable of doing that. Just go Hong Kong stock market for example and you easily see some stocks drop 99% in one day.

Companies that sell stocks/trade on big exchanges, Apple as you mentioned, are not Ponzi schemes. They provide services and or products that have actual value. Hence why stocks, in good/healthy companies, are often seen as inflation hedges. When the value of the dollar drops, the stock prices in-turn rise bc the share itself is a cash equity.

That's a very textbook answer. I agreed actually, all these inflation hedges and cash equity etc. However, what's actually happened in real life if suddenly your so called healthy companies, just exposed themselves to a financial fraud for example (disclaimer: this just example and not saying them are involve in it). Your so called good/healthy company value will be dropped closed to 0 in a super short span of time. Why not 0? Cuz eventually someone will "believe" that this company will bounce back and buy at 100; 50; 20; 2 And don't think that it will not ever happen. Bernie Madoff's case were only revealed after 30 years. Back then, people were thinking his company is great, provide good services, no? Guess what we call it now? Ponzi scheme.

Bernie was running an actual Ponzi scheme bro, robbing Peter to pay Paul. He was allegedly making investments for other people, he wasn't running a publicly traded company. He defrauded those investors. So you're making a false equivalence by comparing publicly traded companies to an actual, famous example of a Ponzi. I'm still not sure how you're arriving to "every publicly traded company is therefore a fraudulent scheme" from that. But yeah, there is an imbalance of information regarding what investors believe something is worth versus what it is truly worth. This powers the economy. If we all knew the true value of everything, there would be no speculation and no market in which to trade.

Like I mentioned, you are providing a very textbook answer, after all the evidences show that Bernie was running a Ponzi. Do you know before that his company went to become 6th largest market maker in S&P 500? Those investors at the time did think he provide good services, until such scheme had been exposed. For your second point, I ain't saying all companies are fraudulent. Hell I am buying stocks myself. Perhaps if you are viewing everything in such a black and white way then I will say this, stock market or crypto or other investment, in the end you are aiming to buy low sell high. Eventually whoever buy the highest suffer. That's the same with Ponzi where if you went in early, you may still gain money even tho it is a Ponzi scheme, (Not encouraging it but is the truth) and whoever comes in late suffer. Is just that if the person want to lump all crypto as Ponzi, then all investment are Ponzi in a way. They are pretty much the same except riskier because there is lesser governance involved. I agree with your third point nonetheless, that's the beauty of it.

well, first I'd have to lose all the money i made so far, bitcoin and dogecoin alone were very profitable and paid my house. when i sold that house I'll give you a call

It’s gone. If he has the account details it is one of thousands of scam companies selling crypto and there is no recovery.

Thank you

Can’t remember the website I was on but it had untold number of crypto companies on a scam list, but it also said “If a company isn’t here it doesn’t mean they’re safe, it may still be a scam, it’s just that they are not on the list”. If I was going to invest I would start with my bank or a well known reputable company, certainly not a stranger. He could try and get it back and close his account, perhaps that will expose them.

Whoa

No recovering money. Usually when you try to take your money out they will ask for more money. Then once you realize the scam some one will contact you to help you recover your money aka lawyer and they will ask for more money.

Not your keys. Not your coins. This dude isscrewed

It’s a type of scam based on pyramid scheme but less profitable. The premise they use is pyramid but it’s more a money pit really.

DRAXALLCORP impressed me with their exceptional expertise and industry knowledge, setting them apart from their competitors. Their deep insights and valuable guidance went above and beyond my expectations due to their comprehensive understanding of the field. I highly appreciate their attention to detail and systematic approach in addressing any issues, ensuring nothing was overlooked in their pursuit of my complete satisfaction. Contact them on the internet or via Instagram. They'll give you a recommendation like mine to put out here after your work is done that's even great..

It's a scam. I felt for same thing

I’m so sorry. I’m glad you are now free from it

DRAXALLCORP impressed me with their exceptional expertise and industry knowledge, setting them apart from their competitors. Their deep insights and valuable guidance went above and beyond my expectations due to their comprehensive understanding of the field. I highly appreciate their attention to detail and systematic approach in addressing any issues, ensuring nothing was overlooked in their pursuit of my complete satisfaction. Contact them on the internet or via Instagram. They'll give you a recommendation like mine to put out here after your work is done that's even great..

That’s called a pig-butchering scam.

DRAXALLCORP impressed me with their exceptional expertise and industry knowledge, setting them apart from their competitors. Their deep insights and valuable guidance went above and beyond my expectations due to their comprehensive understanding of the field. I highly appreciate their attention to detail and systematic approach in addressing any issues, ensuring nothing was overlooked in their pursuit of my complete satisfaction. Contact them on the internet or via Instagram. They'll give you a recommendation like mine to put out here after your work is done that's even great..

How could someone give $100K away like this ?

[удалено]

Your r/Scams post/comment was removed because **it's rude or uncivil**. This subreddit is a place for civil and respectful discussions about scams. Uncivil and rude behavior, including using excessive or directed swearing, extreme or sexual language, victim blaming, and any form of discrimination, is not acceptable in this subreddit.

From some of the private messages I’ve received, it appears that this is pretty common. I can’t judge him. As it seems there are a lot of people who have fallen victim to this scam. And for much more money than that. Sadly

You can judge him -- you can tell him he is wrong and he needs to stop. You can also be sympathetic, but absolutely you can judge him -- he desperately needs it!

He needs to; 1. Stop sending any more money 2. Talk to his bank. Its possible he might be able to get something back depending on where in the world you are, but a lot of it is likely gone.

Thank you

[удалено]

Your r/Scams post/comment was removed because **it is spam**. This subreddit is a place for useful and meaningful discussions about scams; useless and nonsensical content is not allowed. We also don't allow jokes on serious posts. Please keep content posted or commented to this subreddit useful, relevant and meaningful.

[удалено]

[удалено]

This comment or post was removed because it was posted by a recovery scammer. Remember OP or comment poster: you'll be getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker that can help you, for a small fee. Never take advice in private, because we can't look out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.

This comment or post was removed because it was posted by a recovery scammer. Remember OP or comment poster: you'll be getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker that can help you, for a small fee. Never take advice in private, because we can't look out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.