Merlin DEX

Scam Type

DeFi Rug Pull

Red Flag

  • Centralized control risks flagged in audit.
  • Lack of team transparency.
  • Unverified identities.

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

Abused centralized wallet privileges, ignored KYC requests, and drained liquidity pool.

Potential Lost Funds

$1,800,000

Final Outcome

$160K frozen; no arrests; compensation plan ongoing but unresolved.