Look Out For “WhatsApp” Crypto Scams

As the bull market heats up and more people pile into the crypto space, scammers are licking their lips at the opportunity to make money off of inexperienced crypto participants. The goal of this post is to help you, your friends, and your family. Crypto scammers are incredibly clever, and anyone could fall victim, so it’s important to always stay vigilant.

Two of the biggest scams I have witnessed were done using the messaging app “WhatsApp.” I had a woman come to me once; she told me she needed help withdrawing 1 million dollars of USDC from her Coinbase Wallet. I was immediately skeptical. We talked on the phone, and she told me that she needed to pay $50,000 to withdraw her $1,000,000. I was now 99% sure she was being scammed.

As it turned out, she had already paid the $50,000 once but was told that she did it wrong and had to do it again. So, she found me online and asked for help. Well, I had to tell her I was extremely skeptical, and after she sent me some more info, it was determined she had been scammed 100%.

This woman sent the scammers $250,000 in total and had even taken some of that out on a loan. Needless to say, it was not fun to have to break the news to this woman that she wasn’t a millionaire but had actually been scammed out of her savings.

So, how did this happen? Well, she was browsing YouTube and noticed a comment on a video she was watching. The comment said something along the lines of “Mrs. Rosa is the best crypto trader; she made me so much money! Contact her on WhatsApp here 888-000-0000.” Then, there were a ton of comments on this post, all of them reiterating what the main post said. To this woman, it looked like Mrs. Rosa was a legit crypto trader with lots of testimonials.

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She started out sending a little bit of money, then was pressured by the scammer to send more. Scammers will often try to guilt or shame you into sending them more money. “Aren’t we friends? Why are you being so greedy and selfish? Don’t you trust me? What’s wrong with you?” are all common things scammers will say if you hesitate or refuse to send any more money. It is disgusting, and people fall victim to it.

Recently, I sat down with a young guy and his family. I am not sure of the exact amount that was extracted in the scam, but I was told it was a “make or break” situation. Well, unfortunately, this man’s father-in-law was scammed by a fake WhatsApp trading group. He was randomly added to this group, and his curiosity peaked because people in the group were talking about how much money they were making. It all seemed legitimate, so eventually, he got involved in what he thought was a great opportunity.

Here is what was so similar about these two scams. Both of these victims were instructed to send money from their bank to a legitimate crypto exchange. This makes it so the bank won’t flag the transaction as it is going to a legitimate place. From there, the scammer has you buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, or USDT, and send it to a crypto address that they provide. This is where the victim is unknowingly entering the “wild west.” The minute they send this crypto off of the exchange to a crypto address owned by the scammer, their money’s gone, and there is nothing they can do about it.

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After the victim sends the crypto, the scammer makes them make an account on a fake website that the scammer runs. This website will look like a legitimate crypto trading website. Here the scammer will show them a fake portfolio to make the victim think their money is now there, safe and sound, ready to be traded.

Then the scammer just manipulates the numbers on the screen. The actual crypto is with the scammer, and they’re using it however they want. The victim thinks the fake numbers on the screen are real; they think they’re portfolio is going up in value, when the reality is that their money’s gone, and those numbers aren’t real.

Then, the scammer might even allow the victim to withdraw some money, to fully convince them that this opportunity is legitimate. In one case, the victim had deposited $40,000, and the scammer let them withdraw $15,000. This was an effective trick to get the victim to give the scammer more money.

The real kicker comes when the victim’s “portfolio” is worth “millions” of dollars. The victim tries to withdraw, and all of a sudden there is a “mining fee” or “validator fee.” Well, fees to transfer crypto on blockchain networks do exist. So, if the victim searches for information online, they will be met with facts that validate the scammer’s claim. The issue is, a “mining fee” or “validator fee” would never cost as much as the scammer claims.

So, the victim then thinks they are paying a reasonable fee of $50,000 because in exchange, they will be getting millions. But, like the one lady I met with, she actually paid the $50,000, and they convinced her to believe that she had paid it wrong and needed to do it again! So, you can see how ruthless these scammers are in this situation.

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To prevent situations like this from happening to you or your loved ones, consider doing the following. First, if you go to settings, then privacy in WhatsApp, you can turn off the ability for strangers to add you to random groups. A family could have been saved from a devastating scam had this been implemented on the father-in-law’s phone. In addition, scam comments, like the women I mentioned fell for, are everywhere on every YouTube video. Do not fall for those.

Lastly, understand that these scammers are professional. They know what they’re doing and they use emotional manipulation tactics to swindle people blinded by their greed. Be aware and always be skeptical if someone is promising you huge returns and especially if they get upset or annoyed if you hesitate or refuse to send more money.

The sad thing about all of this is that life-changing money can be made in the crypto space. Stories of people turning thousands to hundreds of thousands or even millions are true and not extremely uncommon. So, it is gross when scammers take advantage of this in order to steal money away from honest people looking to change their financial situation for the better.

Ben DuBard

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