Scam Type

Pig Butchering Scam, Impersonation of Legitimate Companies, Fake Trading Platform

Red Flag

  • Unsolicited investment offer on Facebook.
  • Use of WhatsApp for customer support.

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

Established trust via social media, presented a fake trading interface showing false profits, shifted funds to another fake entity, and demanded a large tax payment from outside the platform before withdrawal.

Potential Lost Funds

$2,900,000

Final Outcome

Victim reported the scam to the FBI. No funds have been recovered. Both platforms are under international warning advisories.