A woman in Shanxi invested 590,000 yuan in Bitcoin, only to find out it was a scam after losing all her money

In pursuit of the so-called high profits of "Bitcoin", a woman was defrauded by criminals and lost all her 590,000 yuan investment. On March 22, the Jincheng police informed the public of the relevant information of the case and reminded the general public that when encountering suspected fake investment and financial management platforms, remember not to be greedy or impulsive, and think calmly.
"Bitcoin was originally a kind of online virtual currency that can be used to buy items in real life. At present, the general public has a shallow understanding of Bitcoin. They only see the myth of huge profits and wealth created by it, but do not understand its essence. Many criminals have begun to use this to commit fraud." According to the police, Liu Yan (pseudonym), a retired employee in Jincheng City, met a WeChat friend named "Six Desires" through a live broadcast software. During the communication between the two, "Six Desires" claimed to be a freelancer who often made money by speculating in Bitcoin on a platform called "Hopex". Under the deception of the other party, Liu Yan entered this platform and transferred 50,000 yuan for operation, making a profit of more than 10,000 yuan and successfully withdrawing cash. It was because of this "profit" that Liu Yan, who was planning to make a fortune, transferred 280,000 yuan to the platform again. After that, the platform's "customer service" told Liu Yan: "Your account is profitable again, you can increase your bets!" So Liu Yan transferred 60,000 yuan to the account provided by the platform for the third time, and 50,000 yuan for the fourth time. At this point, Liu Yan found that she could not withdraw cash on the platform. The platform's "customer service" tricked Liu Yan into transferring a total of 150,000 yuan to multiple accounts, saying that "the amount of funds was too large and a reserved deposit was required to prevent money laundering." By then, Liu Yan, who had discovered that she had been deceived, had invested a total of about 590,000 yuan.
The police said that Bitcoin transactions are anonymous. The transaction only reflects the Bitcoin wallet address and a string of random text and numbers. In addition, there is no information that can identify personal identity, and it has the characteristics of cross-border and cross-platform. The so-called financial management platform mentioned by the scammers is actually a fake platform, a fraudulent financial management platform, etc. They take advantage of the current popular market situation of Bitcoin and use Bitcoin as a cover to commit fraud. In the scam, the scammers contacted the victims through various forms such as WeChat, QQ, and online advertisements, and gained the trust of the victims through chatting. After gaining the trust of the victims, they induced the victims to trade on futures and spot trading platforms such as virtual currencies (such as Bitcoin) established by the suspects, and lured the victims into the fake trading platform. In this process, the scammers created the illusion of profit for the victims through false capital injections, artificially manipulated market conditions, or modified the background data by technical means, and deceived the victims' trust in order to achieve the purpose of large-scale profits. Subsequently, a higher withdrawal threshold was set to increase the difficulty of the victims' withdrawals, and the victims were required to continue to make additional investments, thereby achieving the purpose of large-scale fraud.
The police also reminded the general public: Those who promise high interest returns are mostly scammers. When encountering suspected fake investment and financial management platforms, do not be greedy or impulsive, think calmly, and promptly verify its legality and formality through authoritative professional channels, or choose to invest and manage money through formal official platforms such as bank branches. If you are accidentally deceived, please save chat records, transfer screenshots and other relevant evidence, and call 110 immediately to report the crime.