Recognise the fraud and beat the fraudsters at their own game
Who hasn't come across the platforms on Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram where we are promised a fantastic, abundant life if we invest fast enough and then receive huge daily payouts?
At Krypto Investigation GmbH, we receive calls every day from desperate victims who have entered into promises in good faith that have turned out to be a brazen scam. Often enough, to make matters worse, we hear that the victims of the scam have gone into debt to raise the money for the investment, borrowed the money from friends and acquaintances, or overdrawn the account and charged the credit card until it burns up.
All in all, an almost hopeless situation for the victims of fraud.
What do the fraudsters do?
Users of the platforms are contacted at random using an automated system. If they respond to the letter, you enter the phase in which trust is built up. They chat about all sorts of innocuous topics, holidays, travel, children or any number of succinct subjects in order to feign humanity and a personal relationship. Suddenly the topic changes to "I've just been so lucky with an investment, I'm so happy, I've been able to solve all my financial problems".
Of course, questions are then asked, or the conversation is steered in this way: how did that work? You are quickly given figures that make your head spin. The whole thing is accompanied by the offer to get in touch with your own personal advisor.
This brings the scam into the decisive phase. The counsellor gets in touch and now has the decisive advantage of having the internet acquaintance as a reference. Everything worked so well.
Investment models are presented, underpinned by fantasy names and graphics. Technical terms are used that you don't dare to question, facts are given that nobody can verify. It would be an insult to openly distrust the advisor.
Now it's time to get down to business: how much do you want to invest? If there is any hesitation, the suggestion is made to try it out with a small sum. 100, 200 or 500 euros, it doesn't matter, the main thing is to get started.
2 days later, hurray! The first payout and winnings have arrived. Everything worked as promised. You are immediately encouraged to make another investment, perhaps a small amount, but maybe double it?
Here, too, everything will run smoothly as promised. Our tip: block all contacts here at the latest and enjoy the small change.
Unfortunately, very few people do that. Now they finally want a big slice of the cake. Money that you don't actually have is scraped together and invested in one fell swoop. Joyfully waiting for the next payout.
Now the bombshell bursts! There's a phone call or an e-mail, the payout is ready, but first a tax has to be paid. Oh, nobody had thought of that, well, you just pay this ominous tax. The big payout is coming soon.
Oops, there's one more little thing, the payment fee still has to be paid.
The list of possible obstacles to payment is long and the fraudsters are extremely inventive when it comes to naming costs that still have to be paid.
At some point, the point comes when it begins to dawn on the victims of fraud that something is wrong. As a result of the suspension of payments, the internet acquaintance and the consultant usually break off all contact. At most, they sometimes get in touch to try and squeeze out further payments.
And now?
Good advice is needed now. There are three possible scenarios.
- You do nothing and accept the unbelievable
- If all investments have been made by bank transfer, only the police can help.
- If cryptocurrencies are involved and you have transferred cryptos to a fraudster's wallet, we can help you recover all or part of your investment by means of crypto forensics. More details on our website.
If you want to know more about perfidious fraud methods, follow our blog. Every week we publish a true story from our day-to-day work.
