In AMLBot, we receive many investigation requests regarding scams in P2P trading. So we decided to share a real case to demonstrate how one of the most common fraud schemes works. Usually, it has three sides participating in the scheme: the victim, the scammer, and the exchanger.
Story description
Our victim wanted to convert his USDT into cash. While looking for good exchange conditions, he subscribed to the various Telegram exchange groups. He published a post to a group, and that is what always attracts scammers the most.
The intruder reached the victim in DM and proposed a profitable deal with a fantastic exchange rate higher than average on the market. They confirmed all the conditions by phone call.
Later, the victim discovered that the scammer’s location was in another city. It was strange since their agreement was about cash. To prevent canceling the deal, the thief told the victim to ask anyone to come to the bank to check the money’s authenticity and control the replenishment according to the specified details.
And now we’re coming to the most exciting part of the story. Be attentive.
Meanwhile, the scammer asked to provide the contact of the victim’s representative. Moreover, the intruder offered an even more attractive exchange rate as compensation for such an issue.
The victim agreed and asked his friend to negotiate with the scammer in the bank and control the deal.
Culmination
When the deal’s time came, the scammer told the victim that his representative was on the way. The victim decided to phone his friend to ensure everything was OK.
The victim’s friend replied that the scammer’s representative had not arrived. Right after, the victim received a weird message from the same friend saying that he told this to keep this deal private and to not talk about money by phone.
Unfortunately, the victim believed this message and decided to transfer the money without phone confirmation.
As predicted, after successfully transferring money, the victim realized that chats with the scammer suddenly disappeared!
What about that strange message which the victim received from his representative? The scammers faked a friend’s account since the victim gave the intruders his contact!
AMLBot investigation
What was the future of the stolen funds? Our AML officers found that intruders sent the stolen funds to an exchange’s address. While analyzing this address, we discovered that all the funds were transferred to an unknown exchange wallet, which seems unverified.
Moreover, chosen wallet address was associated with large sums of money and transactions in 3 directions:
exchanger —> scammer —> 2 exchange platforms
Furthermore, the volume of the latest transactions exceeds 1 billion USDT, and the latest charge was about 30 million USDT.
According to the information above, we can conclude that the exchange representative knows the scammer.
While dealing with such volumes, we are sure that the cryptocurrency exchange platform requested the exchanger supply evidence of funds’ origin and KYC. Therefore, the contact details of the owner of the exchanger must be requested through the support of the exchange. And after receiving personal data, you can request the fraudster’s identity.
For AMLBot, we marked all the transactions as “scams,” so all funds on the account are blocked. Intruders can’t move or withdraw them. Also, we helped the victim file a complaint to the police and to exchange support.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, specifics of the cryptocurrency attract not only fair people who will use it for a good cause. So, while dealing with P2P trading, we recommend you be highly skeptical, especially if we talk about strangers offering fantastic rates.
In case any problems occur, feel free to contact AMLBot. We will always fight by your side!