Crypto Investment Fraud on Social Media

Who hasn’t come across those platforms on Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram that promise us a fantastic, luxurious life if we just invest quickly enough, with the promise of receiving enormous daily profits?

At Krypto Investigation GmbH, we receive daily calls from desperate victims who, in good faith, believed in promises that turned out to be brazen scams. To make matters worse, we often hear that these victims went into debt to raise the money for the investment, borrowed funds from friends and acquaintances, or overdrew their accounts and maxed out their credit cards to the limit.
All in all, it initially seems like an almost hopeless situation for the victims of these scams.

How do the scammers operate? They use semi-automated systems to randomly message users on various platforms. If someone responds, the next phase begins: building trust. The conversation revolves around all sorts of harmless topics—holidays, travel, children, or some trivial subject—to create the illusion of humanity and a personal connection. Suddenly, the topic shifts: “I just had such great luck with an investment, I’m so happy, I was able to solve all my financial problems.”

Of course, this prompts questions, or the conversation is steered toward, “How did that work?” Soon, dizzying numbers are mentioned. Alongside comes the offer to connect you with their personal advisor.

This is when the scam enters its critical phase. The “advisor” gets in touch, now with the key advantage of having the online acquaintance as a reference. After all, it worked so well for them too.

Investment models are presented, backed by made-up names and graphics. Technical terms are used that people often feel too intimidated to question, and “facts” are stated that can’t be verified. It would feel insulting to openly mistrust the advisor.

Now it gets serious: “How much do you want to invest?” If there’s hesitation, the suggestion follows, “Let’s just try it with a small amount.” 100, 200, or 500 euros, it doesn’t matter—what matters is getting you to take the first step.

Two days later: hooray! The first payout, including profits, arrives. Everything has worked exactly as promised. You’re immediately encouraged to make another investment, maybe just a small amount again—or perhaps double?

Again, everything will run smoothly, just as promised. Our tip: at this point, block all contacts and enjoy your small change.

Unfortunately, very few people do this. Now, they want a big piece of the pie. Money they don’t really have is scraped together and invested in one large payment, while they eagerly await the next payout.

Then the bomb drops: a call or an email arrives saying that the payout is ready, but a tax must be paid first. Oh, no one thought of that, but fine, they pay this mysterious tax because the big payout is coming next.

Oops, there’s just one more thing: the payout fee still needs to be paid.

And it keeps going. The list of possible payout obstacles is long, and the scammers are incredibly creative in inventing new names for the “fees” that supposedly need to be paid.

Eventually, there comes a point when it starts to dawn on the victims that something isn’t right. Once payments stop, the scammers usually cut off all contact. At most, they might reach out occasionally to try to squeeze out one last payment.

Good advice is needed now. There are three possible scenarios.

1. You do nothing and accept the unbelievable.
2. If all investments were made via bank transfer, only the police can help.
3. If cryptocurrencies are involved and you have transferred crypto to a scammer’s wallet, we can help you recover your investment fully or partially through crypto forensics. You can find more information about this on our website.

If you want to learn more about cunning fraud methods, follow our blog. We publish a true story from our daily work every week.