Some people may run across a deal online or even walk past a casino and think “Why not take the risk?” They may reason that if they stake just a few hundred dollars, it isn’t a big deal to lose it. Few people imagine situations where they can lose half a million dollars or their life savings.
However, it doesn’t pay to look at stories like this and scoff or even to say, “This could never happen to me.” However, Stephen Carr of Meaford, Ontario might have thought this only to discover that a few hundred dollars could lead to losing an entire nest egg.
It may seem unfair to pick on Stephen Carr, except when we discover that this YouTube crypto trace scam victim wanted to speak out about what happened to him to warn others to avoid falling for this kind of trap.
He went from someone who was certain he stumbled across an opportunity of a lifetime to having to sell his home to keep himself afloat. It’s important to remember that if you have fallen victim to a bitcoin scam or need a credit card chargeback, you can seek the guidance of experts who can track down your funds and find the people who stole your money.
YouTube–a Haven for Crypto Scams
Most of us watch YouTube. In fact, 2.5 billion people around the world rely on the video-sharing platform for information and entertainment. Like many other people, Mr. Carr ran across a video on YouTube that seemed informative, if not life-changing.
This video promised that through using a proprietary web-based platform, users could trade forex and cryptocurrencies and receive huge returns on their investments with little to no trading experience.
To most of us, this would sound too good to be true. Most of us would know better than to automatically believe these kinds of claims on YouTube. However, a few of us may be tempted to check it out. Stephen Carr decided to stake just $250 to see what would happen. Little did he suspect he would get drawn into a YouTube crypto scam.
Bitcoin Scams Work Like Casinos
It’s like walking into a casino. Many people think it’s fun to gamble with just a little bit of money we could stand to lose. In reality, who wants to lose even $100 or $200, but it isn’t the same as losing thousands of dollars?
However, many people standing outside of the casino can imagine what it’s like to get hooked. Once we stake a little bit of money, we want to gamble more and more. That’s especially true if we’re shown that we’ve won some money. However, the machines in the casino are likely fake. The same thing is true of crypto scams.
Stephen Carr took a token amount of money, $250, to test out if what he was dealing with was a fraud or whether it was legit. However, he saw that his first trade made money. Not only that, he was allowed to withdraw his winnings. This clinched it for Stephen Carr. The scheme proved that it was the real thing.
Except it didn’t and it wasn’t. Just as a casino’s machines are rigged, crypto scams work on proprietary web-based platforms that can be manipulated by the broker to look as if the victim has actually made money in the trade. They will also withdraw a modest amount to make the victim feel as if they are dealing with a legitimate company. That is the last the victim will see of their money.
As the fake web platform showed Stephen Carr was winning, he invested more and more money until he finally staked his life savings of $500,000. However, it didn’t take long for Stephen Carr to wonder if he was behaving impulsively. He asked to withdraw the money but was hit with a fake $150,000 liquidation fee. The crypto scam held onto Stephen Carr’s money and ceased communication.
The Biggest Mistake–Giving Up on Crypto Recovery
We might think the biggest mistake is to get sucked into a crypto scam the way Stephen Carr did. However, there is an even bigger mistake than this–giving up on fund recovery. People often believe that once they’ve lost money to online fraud, especially a crypto scam, they assume it’s gone forever. They may even feel too embarrassed to report it.
However, the best way to prevent crypto scams from harming others is to report them and seek crypto recovery. If you work with crypto recovery experts, you have a strong chance of retrieving your funds and bringing bitcoin scams to justice.
