The ‘Coinmarkets vip’ is a fake crypto trading platform used by scammers who are approaching victims via WhatsApp, Telegram, other social media channels and dating apps.
One victim who emailed me explained they were scammed after responding to a random approach from someone purporting to be a woman through WhatsApp.
‘Bonnie’, as the person called themselves, fed the victim a story about how they traded crypto and were making large profits, and encouraged them to switch to Telegram to continue their communication.
The scammer directed the victim to a platform called Coinmarkets vip where they created an account and funded it via a deposit from the legitimate cryptocurrency exchange crypto.com.
Telegram ‘friend’ offered to make a deposit
After the crypto was sent to Coinmarkets vip, the victim was told that trading had started.
At first, the ‘profits’ were small, but the victim was then offered a ‘bonus’ if he deposited more funds.
He couldn’t make the additional payment, so ‘Bonnie’, who claimed to be making trades of $2 million at a time and was worth $60 million, said she would cover the fee.
She claimed to have deposited $10,000 worth of the stablecoin USDT into the victim’s account so he could secure the bonus.
Scam victim ‘got greedy’ and deposited more
The victim, by his own admission, then ‘got greedy’ and deposited more onto the platform as the profits began to rise.
A one point, the profit on the fake Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trades showed $60,000 on total deposits of $100,000 ($60k from the victim and $40k from ‘bonnie’, plus a spurious 8888 USDT deposit credited at $100k).
Scammers demanded more to ‘unfreeze’ assets
The scam then followed a familiar pattern – all seemed well until the victim tried to withdraw his funds.
The scammers claimed that a block had been put on his IP address and that his assets had been frozen by the authorities.
They said he would need to deposit a further 20% of his total assets in order to release his funds and withdraw them.
It was at this point that a real world friend warned him that it was a scam and that he shouldn’t hand over any more funds to the crooks.
He went back to ‘Bonnie’, who said if he deposited $20k, she would pay the other $10k or so needed to release his funds.
Fortunately, he decided not to send any further crypto, but has been left feeling ‘stupid’ and ‘terrible’.
Why Coinmarkets vip is scam website
The Coinmarkets vip scam is virtually identical to many other crypto scams that are currently operating, some of which I’ve written about here.
The victim has lost a lot of money, but fortunately he didn’t pay the final amount.
But demands for ‘release fees’ or ‘commissions’ are a common strategy used by scammers to extract even more money from victims and are a huge red flag.
Other signs of a scam site include:
- The site is poorly designed and has very little content.
- The logo is clearly designed to be a rip off of the legitimate site, coinmarketcap.com.
- Most of the links on the site lead to a login page and not to the content they say they do.
- Links to the Apple and Android apps do not go to the official stores, but simply open up a QR code which leads to a direct download.
- The domain name is only a couple of months old, yet the platform claims to have been operating for several years.
- The returns on offer are clearly unrealistic and not achievable.
- The victim was approached by a stranger and encouraged to invest.
- There’s virtually no information about the platform online, apart from the odd scam warning.
- The platform claims to be ‘the world’s leading digital assets trading platform’ which is clearly ridiculous.
- There’s no information about the company or team on the website.
- No social media channels are listed on the site.
Visit my ultimate guide to spotting a crypto scam site for more.
Can I recover my funds lost to a crypto scam?
This is a question I get asked a lot but unfortunately there’s no easy way of recovering your money from the scammers.
Cryptocurrency is largely unregulated around the world and there is little by the way of legal redress available to people who’ve been scammed.
The scammers are often based in countries where the legal system is less robust than other nations, making it even harder.
The best thing to do is stop sending money as soon as you realise you’ve been caught up in a scam (this can be hard!) and break off all contact with the scammers.
You can report them to your local authorities or fraud prevention department but don’t expect them to retrieve your funds.
Final word
Realising you’ve been scammed can be difficult and embarrassing, especially if you’ve borrowed money from family or friends to invest.
The important thing is to move on and arm yourself with the tools to prevent yourself from being scammed in the future.
Thorough due diligence is crucial to avoiding losing your money, whether in the cryptosphere or the traditional financial services market.
There’s a wealth of information online and don’t be afraid to ask around in forums and on social media before parting with your cash.
Have you had any experience with this platform? Kindly share your thoughts in the comment section to help others stay informed and safe.