changellytrade.com

Scam Type

Crypto Options Trading Scam (Impersonating Changelly)

Red Flag

Blocking of account access right when the victim attempted to withdraw the full amount.
Demands for additional fees to reactivate the account.

Details

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.

Scammer Behaviour

The scammer built trust over a personal chat before introducing a fake trading platform that mimicked a real one. After letting the victim make a couple of successful withdrawals to gain confidence, they scaled up the fraud, encouraging a massive deposit. Once enough money was trapped in the platform, access was cut off, and they asked for more fees just to release the funds.

Potential Lost Funds

$1,200,000

Final Outcome

The victim eventually realized the platform wasn’t the legitimate Changelly.com but a fraudulent clone site. He lost the entire amount and was left without access to the funds or further communication from the scammers.