Fraudulent Trading Platform.
The victim joined a trading blog on social media, where he met two individuals—“Mr. Charlie” and “Tina”—claiming to represent Fitbela Epro Limited, a UK-based Forex trading firm. They persuaded him to open a Forex trading account on the Meta 5 Trading platform and promised high returns. The victim initially invested $10,000 and was told the account had grown significantly, prompting him to invest even more. Following their direction, he eventually sent a total of $92,000 via wire transfer. Later, they claimed his account was now worth $200,000. When the victim attempted to withdraw his funds, he was told he needed to pay $87,000 in taxes before any money could be released. At that point, he recognized it as a scam.
The victim received a text from “Sally,” who moved their conversation to Telegram. Sally suggested trading cryptocurrency on a platform, providing a link to create an account and instructions for trading “Sheb” coin. The victim transferred $24,000 from his bank account, believing his account was growing. When attempting to withdraw, he was told to pay taxes first to the "Cryptocurrency Regulatory Authority." After paying, he was informed he missed a deadline and needed to pay an additional $4,000. When he refused, Sally blocked him on Telegram.
$24,000 plus taxes
Victim refused further payment; scammer blocked him, no funds recovered.