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What I learned from being Forex scammed out of $200

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

SamuraiRod

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This started in the beginning of October, slightly before I discovered the forum. A man by the name of Frank DM'ed me on Instagram asking me if I wanted to learn about forex trading. In case you don't know, there is a MLM company that peddles forex education ( if you know, you know ) that I had joined and left months ago. Though his pitch was similar to the pitch of distributors, I always keep myself open to learning. So I asked him what he does...

Long story short, Frank claimed to be able to guarantee me 500% + returns on my money. Naturally I was skeptical, but a big part of me wanted it to be true. I have been in the "wantrepreneur" stage for months now and desperately wanted to do something that worked. Not desperate enough that I lacked common sense, but desperate enough that I woud consider his offer.

So I declined working with him, and wished him best of luck on his endeavors.

But then he messaged me the next day, and the day after, and a few days down the line, and a few days after that.

I could clearly see that Frank was determined about what he did, so I decided to hear him out some more. At this point, I'm probably two weeks in and have had a few back and forth conversations with the guy. He seemed patient, complimented my intelligence, and seemed like he respected my skepticism. Frank wanted me to invest $300 in BTC into a site that could make me thousands. Unforuntalely, being a university student that only makes $200 per week right now, I had to decline since I would be investing essentially more than I could afford. Plus the only way I could buy BTC was through Coinbase, which would take 11 days to clear my order.

This didn't bother Frank whatsover. He said he would fund my account $100 to help alleviate the expenses an wait for Coinbase to clear my BTC purchase. At this point I am absolutely dumbfounded. I said to myself, "If someone can jump through so many unneccesary hoops just to extract $200 from me, then they must either have something good or deserve it more than me". So like any other naive college student would do, I invested money into the site.

Immediately I saw what looked like a return on my money. After a day, my $200 on the site became $800. Then $2000. Then $2500. I patted myself on the back for trusting Frank and disregarding my skepticism.

And then things got hairy.

I got an email from the website claiming I had exhausted 3 days of free signals, and needed to pay a whopping $170 per signal for 4 more days ( $680 in total ) to keep my account active AND to withdraw my money. At this point, I threw my hands up and realized the nonsense I got myself involved in. Frank, putting on his genuine and honest character, assured me that I would still get paid. He claimed he made 20% on my earnings, so it was in his best interest to keep me going. He told me that instead of saying " I can't possibly invest $700 that I don't have into something I don't understand ", I should ask family and friends for the money and pay them back as soon as I got a return on my investment. His guarantee.

Though it was too late at this point, I finally did my due dilligence on the company website. Fake reviews with stock profile pictures of customers that claimed they made good money. Dozens of carbon copy websites with changes in the domain name. No social media presence from employees/investors besides Instagram accounts.

I felt betrayed by Frank, but also strangely thankful. For $200, I learned a whole bunch about what trust means when it comes to business transactions. For all I know, this man could be an Indian scammer that claimed to be from California. Or a hyperintelligent dog operating underground. Who knows. I just hope that the $200 can benefit whoever was so desperate enough to extort it from me. I payed for a valuable lesson in online marketing and sales. Thanks Frank.
 
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RazorCut

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The old adage, 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is' springs to mind.

On the positive side, learning this lesson so early in your life will pay many dividends over the coming decades. So in some ways he had done you a favour.
 

SamuraiRod

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The old adage, 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is' springs to mind.

On the positive side, learning this lesson so early in your life will pay many dividends over the coming decades. So in some ways he had done you a favour.

Very true. In a way I was testing if the proverb actually ran true. Now I know, along with a number of other things.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Ah yes, the illustrious search for the holy grail of money making: get rich easy.

Stories like these continue to happen because there's a never ending supply of people wanting the shortcut.

Sorry it had to be you.

So I declined working with him, and wished him best of luck on his endeavors.

That's like saying, "Hey I appreciate the attempt to rob me, best wishes."

Immediately I saw what looked like a return on my money. After a day, my $200 on the site became $800. Then $2000. Then $2500. I patted myself on the back for trusting Frank and disregarding my skepticism.

And then things got hairy.

I got an email from the website claiming I had exhausted 3 days of free signals, and needed to pay a whopping $170 per signal for 4 more days ( $680 in total ) to keep my account active AND to withdraw my money.

Holy shit.

What an effective scam.

Deposit $200 into a fake brokerage account.

Show FAKE gains of $2,000 -- now you show $2,200.

Ask person to deposit another $600 to continue the signal service.

Continue to show fake gains. (A number on a computer screen!)

Continue to deposit more money for more fake signals.

When it comes time to withdraw your money and your $20,000 in gains, disappear.

The money never existed.

It was a fake number on a screen at a fake trading account.

The only thing that was real was you sending them real money.
 
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Jeff Noel

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How can they get away clean from this though... can't you chargeback ? If payment was made through a payment processing platform, can't you revert the payments ?

Most credit cards have fraud insurance included, do cases like this one apply ?

I know Bitcoins were acquired for the payment, I guess that complicates things. Why would a trustworthy investment manager use Bitcoins though ? Are there safe, known agencies doing that ? I don't really know much about this world, so I guess it's possible ?
 

The Abundant Man

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SamuraiRod

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How can they get away clean from this though... can't you chargeback ? If payment was made through a payment processing platform, can't you revert the payments ?

Most credit cards have fraud insurance included, do cases like this one apply ?

I know Bitcoins were acquired for the payment, I guess that complicates things. Why would a trustworthy investment manager use Bitcoins though ? Are there safe, known agencies doing that ? I don't really know much about this world, so I guess it's possible ?

Your knowledge is about as good as mine. There wasn't a receipt for putting money in the website either, so that further complicates things. I got a measly email that said "Your payment of $200 went through". That's it.

He was the only person I've ever met online or offline that claimed to deal with money. In reality, most investment managers likey would never touch Bitcoin. But I chose to ignore that fact, and paid 2 Benjamins for it.
 

MJ DeMarco

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There wasn't a receipt for putting money in the website either, so that further complicates things. I got a measly email that said "Your payment of $200 went through". That's it.

Yea, it's pretty scary how easy it is to perpetrate a brokerage account scam with fake numbers, fake gains, etc.
 

SEBASTlAN

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What an effective scam.

Deposit $200 into a fake brokerage account.

Show FAKE gains of $2,000 -- now you show $2,200.

Ask person to deposit another $600 to continue the signal service.

Continue to show fake gains. (A number on a computer screen!)

Continue to deposit more money for more fake signals.

When it comes time to withdraw your money and your $20,000 in gains, disappear.

The money never existed.

It was a fake number on a screen at a fake trading account.

The only thing that was real was you sending them real money.

Same thing with some dating apps that say you've got 12 messages from models after a day of signing up - oh you need to upgrade and pay $30 to view the messages though...lol
 
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100ToOne

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Wow sad to hear.

You learned it for 200 dollars, some learn it for $5000, so you should be thankful.

I would like to add that these people don't just do it with money, also with every possible thing.

I'll share something that just happened today, this guy comes to our offline shop to sell us a product
- this product is usually 40 grams
- this same manufacturer makes this same product exclusively custom for schools to sell in the cafeteria which weighs 25g instead but sells for the same market price as the 40g, however costs less for schools
- this sales guy comes in pitching to us the 40 grams, then sells us the 25g.

AFTER big time research we found that we got scammed by this idiot.
But again for 10 dollars, you learn a lot.
 
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SamuraiRod

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Wow sad to hear.

You learned it for 200 dollars, some learn it for $5000, so you should be thankful.

I would like to add that these people don't just do it with money, also with every possible thing.

I'll share something that just happened today, this guy comes to our offline shop to sell us a product
- this product is usually 40 grams
- this same manufacturer makes this same product exclusively custom for schools to sell in the cafeteria which weighs 25g instead but sells for the same market price as the 40g, however costs less for schools
- this sales guy comes in pitching to us the 40 grams, then sells us the 25g.

AFTER big time research we found that we got scammed by this idiot.
But again for 10 dollars, you learn a lot.
Oh wow , I hope more people can catch on to the b.s. of scammers. I personally took a whole lot out of that experience for $200. I can't say the same for the scammer and whatever he wanted to fund. But that money can be replaced and knowledge has been gained.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk
 
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SamuraiRod

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Anytime a stranger approaches you (especially on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc) claiming to make you money; run.

No stranger in the world cares about your finances more than you do.
Very good advice. I've gave a couple of these people a few hours of my time before to hear their proposition. But not again. Thank you.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk
 

amp0193

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Though it was too late at this point, I finally did my due dilligence on the company website. Fake reviews with stock profile pictures of customers that claimed they made good money. Dozens of carbon copy websites with changes in the domain name. No social media presence from employees/investors besides Instagram accounts.

Every scam I've fallen to, would've been prevented with just a tiny amount of due diligence.

If it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

And if you're going to do it anyways... do your due diligence first.
 

Suzanne Bazemore

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