I am John Hall, and I live in California. I was contacted by one Carmen who instructed me to set up an account on a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange to purchase BITCOIN, transfer funds to a Trust Wallet account, and then directed me to transfer funds to the fraudulent trading website “darwave.com”. Over the course of a few months, I made repeat investments into the platform totaling over $30,000. During this time, I was assured that my money could be made back and at one point Carmen offered to send $41,000 of her own assets, plus an additional $8,000 that I previously sent to Carmen as a good faith measure, to supplement my investment on the platform. After the alleged transfer, I was led to believe that I had $234,000 USDT in my account balance as a result of the trade.
However, when I tried to withdraw, the website informed me that my account was suspended and that my assets were frozen. After contacting the website’s customer service, I was told that my withdrawal would only be approved when I provide an additional payment outside the platform to pay off the short-term capital gains tax on their profits. At this point I realized the fraudulent nature of the website and reported the incident. A friend then recommended “RECOVERYCOINGROUP AT GMAIL DOT COM” who helped recover all my money and then brought down the website so they’ll not be able to scam someone else.