Seeking Potential Victims of Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud
The FBI’s Phoenix Division is seeking potential victims of a cryptocurrency investment fraud occurring between November 2021 and September 2022.
In this scheme, fraudsters cultivate long-term relationships with victims met online, eventually enticing them to make investments in fraudulent cryptocurrency trading platforms that funnel the funds to cryptocurrency addresses controlled by scammers. Scammers control websites that are built to look similar to legitimate trading platforms, phone applications, and smart contracts accessed through cryptocurrency wallet software. Once victims make an initial “investment,” the platforms purport to show substantial gains. Sometimes, victims are even allowed to withdraw some of these initial gains in order to further engender trust in the scheme. It is not until a large investment is made that victims find that they are unable to withdraw their funds. Even when a victim is denied access to their funds, the fraud is often not yet over. Scammers request additional investments, taxes, or fees, promising that these payments will allow victims access to their accounts.
The fraudulent investment platforms involved in the case currently being investigated by the FBI’s Phoenix Division include:
- NTU Capital Limited
- Create Wealth Global
- Deribitex, Deribitexin, deribit-w, deribit-e, deribit-x, and deribit-exchange
- Top Tank
- Penzo Limited
- Aly Financial
- MCUS
- MGCCKJ
- Eth-defis
The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes that it investigates and provide these victims with information, assistance services and resources.
If you believe you are a victim of any of the above listed fraudulent investment platforms and invested between November 2021 and September 2022, please complete this questionnaire. Your responses are voluntary but would be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim. Based on the responses provided, you may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information.
Questionnaire
Tips to Protect Yourself
- If an unknown individual contacts you, do not provide them financial or personal information and do not send them money.
- Treat any investment advice from people you meet online with extreme caution.
- Be wary of investments, particularly cryptocurrency investments, that offer guaranteed returns or sound too good to be true.
- If you believe you are a victim of a fraud, do not pay any additional “fees” or “taxes” to attempt to withdraw your money.
- Do not pay for services that claim to be able to recover lost funds.
The FBI requests victims report these types of fraudulent or suspicious activities to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov.
Additional Resources
