Scam Type

Crypto Options Trading Scam

Red Flag

  • Pressure to keep adding funds (including loans).
  • Telegram-only support.
  • Tax payment demands before withdrawal,.
  • Fake CEO with a suspicious title.

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 early by walking the victim through technical steps and allowing a small withdrawal to create a false sense of security. They used pressure tactics and fabricated profit figures to drive repeated deposits, eventually switching to a tax-payment barrier to trap more money. Fake authority figures were introduced to reinforce the lie.

Potential Lost Funds

$165,287

Final Outcome

After the “tax” demand, the victim realized it was a scam. Despite efforts to retrieve the funds, all money invested—minus the one-time $5,000 withdrawal—was lost.