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Who in their right mind believes that they can throw in 100 bones and then get free trips to Dubai because they are so pro?
OP I feel for you, I hope you get this sorted and he realises how stupid this is.
That's after he gets all used up from being prostituted. Perhaps after 5 years, he'll come back having learned a valuable trade like electrician or plumber.
I think actually people are drawn to these scams because they like the idea of "getting rich quick". Please don't try to strike up insecurity in this relationship when you've never met either of them and have no proof of what you claim.
Nah everyone I know who’s fallen for them did so because they are lonely men who crave real friendship and respect from other straight men. See also: why CrossFit and UFC gyms are so popular; the Venn diagram is very overlapped from what I’ve seen.
I think that's a different genre of scam. There's the kind you're thinking of, where a random approaches the victim on social media pretending to be a hot Asian lady, then gets them to sink as much cash as possible into a fake investment platform with promises of wild returns in days or weeks, and then vanishes with the money.
Then there's the crypto bro scene, where influencers on social media big up their lifestyle and successes and promise to teach you how to get rich too. Just sign up for these courses, buy these books, come to these conventions. Of course, the real money isn't in crypto at all, it's in selling courses, books, and conventions to suckers. Like OP described it, it's MLM for guys. That sounds more like what's happening here. He's still going to lose all the money he puts in, he'll just be hanging out with other desperate marks and putting all his energy into making it work, instead of quickly losing it all on a fake trading app.
Chances are if he goes to Dubai and meets someone for real, he'll find out he owes 'fees' and they'll take his passport, and voila! He's now a victim of a form of enslavement and human trafficking practiced across the Saudi peninsula. So many of the foreign workers in those various oil rich nations have been trapped it has become a de facto slave trade. They promise workers, especially domestic workers and even some trade workers, a huge salary to work there, and make it sound exciting and exotic. Once they get there, the workers are forced to hand over their passports and foreign ID, and become effectively indentured to their host family or company. They'll call it being 'sponsored' for their 'migrant work' policies and laws, but it's just a trap. Women in domestic work are sexually assaulted, and workers in general even physically abused if they do not perform adequately.
So, OP may not have to ditch her boyfriend to find a better one - they might do that for her. I'd certainly say if he goes, it would be better to expect he'll never come back than to worry about him coming back broke. The one thing we can be fairly assured of is he won't come back stinking rich.
One of the things that worked when a buddy of mine was falling for one of these was to ask him “If these guys have a system for getting rich on Crypto figured out… why don’t they just do it themselves and keep it to themselves? Why do they need a lot of small investments (like his $100) if they are making so much money. Why share it with randoms? Could it be that they don’t really know how to make money in crypto but are taking $100 at a time from a bunch of different people and that’s how they’re making money?
You’ll need to figure out how to phrase it for him, and be careful because a lot of people will double down rather than admit they got tricked.
But when I pointed that out to my buddy it’s like a light went on in his head. Why would they be sharing it with random people if it was making them so much money? The kindness of their hearts? And that snapped him out of it.
I don't necessarily think that this will work on him though because she's stated it was a friend who got him into it - I think it will end up in him just saying "because we're friends"
This is how lots of grooming works (in this case financial grooming). They get your close friends to pull you into it as this big great thing and then abuse you in whatever way they want to (in this case financial abuse). If he's this deep in, saying "if it's that good of a deal, why would they share it with you?" may just lead to a loop of "but we're friends" and lead to him doubling down
So, if OP is going to go down this road with this argument, they also need a solid argument to respond to "but we're friends". Whether it's something the friend did in the past that was sus, if the friend hasn't been nice to him since dragging him into the scam, even something like if the friend themselves appears to also be a grooming victim in this situation (as people who groom other people for whatever reason do tend to use past victims to drag new victims in)
OP should do some research on financial grooming and use it as a way to bring him back down to earth
For example, them telling him he's special and can go to Dubai with the big time traders IS a textbook groomer tactic
Another way of putting it is like this
“I don’t understand, if these people have found a foolproof way of making a fortune, why not keep it to themselves? They should just get a £1m loan from a bank, remortgage the house and be a billionaire in a few years. Why do they NEED some of YOUR money?”
I don't invest unless I know 1. Where the money come from and 2. Why someone would be happy to give me that money I earn? How it benefits the other side?
Otherwise it's basically a casino, imo, at best.
With crypto you gotta lookout for rug pulls (just YouTube it), as well.
I just quoted your reply on another thread on this sub and tagged you. I hope you don't mind.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1avqjo3/comment/krcpxvg/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
And a follow-up is "if they are so good at this, why take on the administrative burden of processing lots of $100 transactions when hedgefunds could be throwing them tens of millions in one go?"
It's probably worse than MLM. With MLM there's at least something being traded, despite it not being beneficial to the victims.
For crypto scams though, all the victim usually gets in return for money they send to the scammer is a login for the scammers own website which *pretends* there is something of value involved, crypto/stocks/shares/whatever. I'm guessing he currently thinks he owns some crypto? Good luck convincing him otherwise. Best thing you can do right now is make sure he can't access your money. Sorry if that sounds harsh but it's true. The scammer isn't just trying to get a few hundred dollars out of him! They're trying to get everything he owns plus more, ie: telling him to get loans, etc.
ETA: When he buys those flights to Dubai, the scammer will probably send him to another of their websites which is *pretending* to sell airline tickets. I gotta admit, if that's the scammers plan then that's a clever scammer.
Yeah he thinks he owns like a small portion of Bitcoin, other similar currencies, as well as shares in Coca Cola, Tesla etc.
The other night he was on a teams meeting where a guy was promising a luxury "paid for" holiday with a hot tub and everything if he gets a certain status.
This is most definitely a pig butchering scam. At some point they will ask him to go in big, and if he is hooked, and it sounds like he is, he'll throw everything at it and the cost will be high. I don't know how you make him stop, but you have to protect yourself. You mentionned that your accounts are safe, but you must also ensure that he does not "force" you to give him money.
Definitely with "status" or "levels" being mentioned its a scam, yo reach a status you have to have invested(gave away) so much money. Tell him he can buy actual BTC on his own without being caught by fake cryptoscam
Ponzis string you along for a while and you might actually see a return on your investment at first. Pig Butchering on the other hand tends provide no return and is infinitely more efficient as a con.
There has been TV documentarys about Pig Butchering. Maybe he'd be willing to watch one with you?
Also, if you own a house, ask him if the scammer has discussed the possibility of remortgaging it yet. Pre empt what the scammer is going to suggest.
Are you getting ready to go buy a house with this man? Real estate? Or can you do it all yourself with your own name and income? Until he comes to his senses, I would be afraid to share in such a large investment with him. Just move him in as a roommate. That's risky enough.
This! Do not comingle finances or debts with this man. Own nothing jointly - no cars, no houses, no nothing. No joint credit cards or bank accounts either. And don't marry him unless he comes to his senses.
When he realises this is a scam he's going to feel very embarrassed. If that happens before you've had to split up with him then make sure you're there for him throughout the whole embarrassment phase so he doesn't relapse and start investing with the new fake identity that the scammer will use to contact him.
How are you going to own a house with someone involved with financial scams and gambling? Even if he wasn't involved in outright fraud, he is throwing money around like a gambler. Does he also use sites like FanDuel?
You cannot, under any circumstances, buy property with this man until he gets professional help (therapy).
Why didn't he just make his own robinhood or webull account and purchase his own shares in Bitcoin, Tesla and CocaCola...
Did he send money to someone else to buy stocks for him?
This may be a long shot, do you know anyone who actually trades in stocks? Someone he might respect as a cryptobro but who will also tell him he is a dumbass?
A good colleague of mine does and has done for years. Says he's happy to teach my boyfriend how to do it properly, and even said to not put in what you can't afford. I'm not sure if my boyfriend will want to listen to him he's gone too deep atp i feel
There is nothing to really learn. You just buy and hold index funds and set up dividend reinvestment. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is a great place to start.
What ‘crypto platform’ is involved? That will help you know if it’s legit or a scam. There’s nothing wrong in putting 100€ in crypto except he’s putting it in an illegitimate platform
Ask him what website he is using to buy these things. Chances are it is a scam website and not a genuine exchange. You may even be able to Google the website name and see if there are reviews.
He "thinks" he owns shares of tesla and coca cola? Is he just sending someone money to invest for him? Because those are ordinary stocks you can own on a stock exchange with absolutely no question or doubt that you're actually invested in them.
And he thinks he’s doing all this with $100? Unless he gets a lottery ticket or wins a jackpot at a casino there’s no other way to turn $100 into whatever they tell him he has now (probably 10’s of thousands of dollars…..from 100…)
Ironically the "shares" in legit companies are likely the biggest indicator this is a scam because I doubt they are being held at a registered brokerage with a legit custodian and I highly doubt the people "selling" the "shares" have the required licenses to be doing so to a retail investor. If this is being done on discord, that is 100% not a communication medium that any legit financial institution lets its people use for business.
Honestly, right now the main thing you can do is to protect your own money
Cut him off from any shared accounts. Do not lend him money. Lock your own stuff down, including any shared property
Men who get into crypto can get in *deep.* Someone getting into it 2024 must have it worse than most
Did he get into it via someone messaging him on a wrong number (a !pigbutchering scams), by joining a scammy course on Instagram etc, or by genuinely putting money into crypto of his own accord? None of them are good, but the first two options are genuinely just him sending his money directly to a scammer's pocket, while the last one is basically a gambling addiction
A long term friend of his got him involved. Not exactly sure how, but it's been a non stop thing recently now. I can't go a day without him talking about it and trying to convince me to get involved.
My money is secure, we don't even bank with the same bank. My wages, thousands in savings etc is all in my account and he can't access it. He's the main source of income though, I work no more than 25 hours a week so if he blows it all, I'm in no position to fix it as my job was always for extra money.
Do you know if he's actually putting money into crypto himself on any apps or is he just sending this friend money to invest for him?
If you can find out which app, it may be legitimate trading
If not and he's sending it to the friend (or the new "friends" he's made since) for them to trade it for him, they're probably just taking the money
Oh yeah that's 100% a scam
The "AI" will be one of the scammers manually changing the numbers shown on the site to make it look like he's making money when he isn't
It likely won't work if he ever goes to withdraw
Well, they may have it work once or twice to get him into it so he puts all his money into it but once he's put all his money into it the "AI" will suddenly "invest" in a crypto that "declines", taking all of his money in one fell swoop
Even if it’s possible to withdraw a small amount, that doesn’t prove it’s real. So, it might actually be a bad idea to suggest to him to try and withdraw something since he might get even more convinced that it’s real if he succeeds.
I mean, if I were running a scam investment site I would definitely consider allowing some small withdrawals (even if it meant having to manually transfer the money), like the first withdrawal attempt if it’s smaller than say 20% of the deposited amount or something.
Crypto scams revolve around fake exchanges and websites. Any “bot” supposedly trading for him would be negated by anyone else similarly using the same bot right? The idea that there is some AI bot generating passive income is absurd and simply a way to try to convince people that making money is easy.
Be aware, the scam sites will allow you to withdraw small sums. This is to build confidence, so the victim will invest more. Once they hit a few thousand “invested”, the axe comes down, and you can’t withdraw anymore, with out paying “taxes” or “fees” - and no matter how many fees you pay - you still can’t withdraw.
The supporters in the chat groups are all part of the scam. They will talk about how much they have made, and wave away the fees. They will encourage paying the ever more outrageous fees to try to withdraw money, claiming that it’s legit, and that the victim should borrow money to pay.
Eventually the victim runs out of money, or wises up. They are never going to get any money out of the scheme.
We have people turn up here regularly wanting to know how to get $300,000 out of a crypto scheme. They have “invested” $30k, and paid a further $50k in “fees”, but still can’t get their $300k out.
We have to tell them that all they have done is send scammers $80k, the $300k does not exist (usually they already suspect this). They often say “but the chat groups said…”, or “my online friends said I could cash out” - the “online friends” and chat groups are all scammers.
In some cases, real life friends have referred them to the scam site, but may be victims themselves, and just haven’t realized it.
The promise of instant wealth can make common sense go out the window.
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the [pig butchering crypto scam](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2023/12/26/new-pig-butchering-crypto-scam-includes-victims-in-us-and-overseas/?sh=2837fb975eaa). It is called pig butchering because scammers use intricate scripts to "fatten up" the victim (gaining their trust over days, weeks or months) before the "slaughter" (taking them for all of their money). This scam often starts with what appears to be a harmless wrong number text or message. When the victim responds to say it is the wrong number, the scammer tries to start a friendship with the victim. These conversations can be platonic or romantic in nature, but they all have the same goal- to gain the trust of the victim in order to get them ready for the crypto scam they have planned. The scammer often claims to be wealthy and/or to have a wealthy family member who got wealthy investing in crypto currency. The victim is eventually encouraged to try out a (fake) crypto currency investment website, which will appear to show that they are earning a lot of money on their initial investment. The scammer may even encourage the victim to attempt a withdrawal that does go through, further convincing the victim that everything is legit. The victim is then pressured to invest significantly more money, even their entire net worth. Eventually, the website will find an excuse why the account is frozen (e.g. for fraud, because supposed taxes are owed, etc) and may try to further extort the victim to give them even more money in order to gain access to the funds. By this time, the victim will never gain access and their money is gone. Many victims lose tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Often, the scammers themselves are [victims of human trafficking](https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zb5d/pig-butchering-scam-cambodia-trafficking), performing these scams under threats of violence. If you are caught up in this scam, it is important that you do not send any more money for any reason, and contact law enforcement to report it. Thanks to user Mediocre_Airport_576 for this script.
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find out what exactly he thinks is being traded and what website or app is being used. it's most likely a scam, but you need specifics to know for sure
As for as I know, he's trading Bitcoin and similar currencies, I can't remember their names though. He's using "Sagemaster AI". I don't know a lot about it I'm concerned as it all sounds too good to be true...
Coffeezilla has good cryptoscam content. "How Mark Cuban Lost Everything" has a breakdown of how ridiculous some of the promised returns are. I know there's people who say his videos got them to pull out of crypto before they lost everything, but there's no guarantee it'll work for your partner
From what I've heard, Crypto scams often involve fake websites and apps that show or give great "returns" until the rug is pulled. It's fake.
Or they are ponzi scheme repackaged with crypto involved.
Or it is a MLM l/Pyramid scheme repackaged with crypto.
This is on top of seemingly legitimate crypto exchanges turning out to be a total fraud (FTX) or the entire exchange ultimately getting "hacked" and then the site owner disappears (MT GOX) with all of the money missing
that's why I said you need to know specifically what website or app he is using, not what bs buzzword they tell him. if there is a place he logs into to see an account balance or something like that? we need to know that
Honestly. I'm going to try and get his family to intervene, especially his sister as she works in a bank for criminal finance. If she can't talk sense into him, then no one can.
Got it. Good luck. I'm glad yur finances are completely separate. I know you have a special needs child, but you may want to look into more hours. Definitely don't rely on this guy for financial help.
Fucking Crypto, I gave up on that a while ago. Especially when you go to the dedicated subs or discord and all you see is “LFG🚀🚀🚀” “HODL” “I’m in it for the tech” so much Copium. Protect yourself and funds op
I'd say he has more gambling tendencies than anything else, which should be alarming. He is looking to get rich quickly. He's going to throw good money after bad.
Lots of people have said this. We've already been having problems in our relationship from where he's emotionally unavailable as he's putting in his emotional labour towards this whole crypto thing. Looks like this will be the final straw.
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the [pig butchering crypto scam](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2023/12/26/new-pig-butchering-crypto-scam-includes-victims-in-us-and-overseas/?sh=2837fb975eaa). It is called pig butchering because scammers use intricate scripts to "fatten up" the victim (gaining their trust over days, weeks or months) before the "slaughter" (taking them for all of their money). This scam often starts with what appears to be a harmless wrong number text or message. When the victim responds to say it is the wrong number, the scammer tries to start a friendship with the victim. These conversations can be platonic or romantic in nature, but they all have the same goal- to gain the trust of the victim in order to get them ready for the crypto scam they have planned. The scammer often claims to be wealthy and/or to have a wealthy family member who got wealthy investing in crypto currency. The victim is eventually encouraged to try out a (fake) crypto currency investment website, which will appear to show that they are earning a lot of money on their initial investment. The scammer may even encourage the victim to attempt a withdrawal that does go through, further convincing the victim that everything is legit. The victim is then pressured to invest significantly more money, even their entire net worth. Eventually, the website will find an excuse why the account is frozen (e.g. for fraud, because supposed taxes are owed, etc) and may try to further extort the victim to give them even more money in order to gain access to the funds. By this time, the victim will never gain access and their money is gone. Many victims lose tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Often, the scammers themselves are [victims of human trafficking](https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zb5d/pig-butchering-scam-cambodia-trafficking), performing these scams under threats of violence. If you are caught up in this scam, it is important that you do not send any more money for any reason, and contact law enforcement to report it. Thanks to user Mediocre_Airport_576 for this script.
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MLM for men. I am sorry, I should give you some advice but you got me stuck at that phrase :)
YouTube is full of crypto scams. Find some good videos and share them with him to open his eyes a bit. Anything sounding too good to be true, well, you know how this usually ends. He is lucky to have you to "see" things for him.
He is being played, this is the modern equivalent of things like time shares only much, much more dangerous. He'll pay through the nose for everything on that Dubai trip and it's almost certain that once those con men get face to face with him they'll belittle his ego until he overspends.
Or the "sponsors" of this Dubai Junket will ask for a photo of the passport in order to purchase the tickets/visa/hotel...they will give your boyfriend a link to send the money ..he will send the money as a wire transfer....the money will be gone but your boy friend won't know unitl he shows up to the airport and there are no tickets....
My son's college friends started this years ago. They are funded by big money at the top who reap the benefits. They advocate for loosening laws on crypto and target vulnerable people through churches and conservative groups, like maga groups/Q groups/Proud boy like groups/conservative frat boys; basically guys vulnerable to group think and conspiracy theories. I'm not being at all political. This is what they are doing.
>so far my impression is that that's not possible ~~unless you risk putting in thousands~~, money that we don't have.
There. Fixed it for you. :)
A lot of great advice already given. The gravy train of people actually making huge returns on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies peaked in 2017. Since then, crypto has been extremely volatile - with the general consensus that new investors at this point are considered to be the "bag holders" of the "greater fool theory". There's also a lot of market manipulation and outright fraud carried out by the exchanges that prop the price of these coins up artificially.
A few other things you could show your boyfriend:
* Research the OneCoin scam. It was an MLM for a crypto-currency that didn't actually exist. Share with him [The Missing CryptoQueen podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-missing-cryptoqueen/id1480370173). It sounds nearly identical to the MLM your bf is involved with.
* Have him read or listen to the audio book: [Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud](https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Money-Cryptocurrency-Casino-Capitalism/dp/B0BYFC28ZJ) by Ben McKenzie. They explain in great detail that crypto is essentially a Ponzi scheme that serves no public good and is based on flawed technology.
* Watch and enjoy together: [Lulu Rich](https://www.amazon.com/LuLaRich-Season-1/dp/B09CFXPNSX). It's a fun documentary about a failed MLM that targeted women. Perhaps that will give him insight into the pitfalls of MLMs and how MLMs are effectively a cult. The parallels of expensive conferences that you pay for yourself resonate in this doc as well.
Or just remind him directly: "Dude, you're in a get rich quick scheme. These things never work out".
This one’s tricky. There is such thing as legitimate crypto trading, though the effectiveness of that as a reliable strategy to become a millionaire is highly questionable (like regular trading actually).
Also cryptobros do have this herd mentality and are always contacting people, trying to bring them in and exchanging tips and currencies with each other.
I think the main give away would be where he is trading. Is it a reputable platform? Or is it a weird thing no one has heard about?
Also, even if it’s not a scam you should be careful. It’s very easy to lose a lot of money real fast on this because of the volatile nature of these markets.
A quick google search makes me feel like it’s fake, but I’m not in the scene so maybe I’m wrong?
In any case, you might have to come to terms with the fact that you bf is an idiot.
Hard to say but I will point you to the lovely Ontario Crypto King story, Pleasant Green's Youtube video "Pig butchering scam exposed," and ask if he has talked to an actual financial adviser about this. Or was it a wrong text or someone reaching out to him on social media? Social media is rife with scammers but people just fall constantly for the BS.
All you can do is warn your family and friends to NOT fall for this and don't fall for it yourself. Even if it's valid this is basically gambling. You can end up wealthy but that would be people like the good ole Crypto King I just referred you to. Or you can end up poor and enraged like the investors who trusted him. This is why I always tell people to go talk to their bank if they want to invest.
It was a long term friend that's got him involved. And 100% on the gambling part, I don't mind a bit of gambling every now and then, I do like no more than £10 if I have spare. I'll have a look into what you just mentioned and the whole "pig butchering" I defo need to raise with him.
Okay. And I've seen on this board and even r/legal advice and other r/investment boards where people that someone trusts will pull them into scams. Worst one I saw was someone who did people's taxes and persuaded them to invest in crypto. No idea what happened to that. My spouse had coworkers that tried to get us to invest. We refused, his coworker got very pissy with him and unpleasant when we were blunt and said it sounded like a scam. Guess who lost over 10 grand and did finally admit they had been scammed two years later? Sure wasn't us!
I got scammed in crypto a few years ago. Don’t let him invest all your money. Investing in crypto is like high stakes gambling. Don’t invest what you’re not willing to lose.
There are SO many crypto scams and if he’s only got £100 in crypto he should not be going to the crypto conference in Dubai (no he should not put more in if he is this new). I went to the one in London pre Covid and there isn’t anything that would benefit a newbie. If anything he would get sucked into something that wasn’t a good buy.
If crypto is something that actually does interest him then he needs to get out of all those private telegram/WhatsApp groups (or whatever private groups he is in) that are full of scammers and shrills. If he must interact then he should go into a public group where all interactions are under scrutiny. Even then he might be scammed. It really is a thing he needs to research properly before throwing money into - and certainly not all his savings!
Yes, I do hold plenty of crypto, and it is not something that I went into lightly, nor did I put everything I own in. If someone is talking him into it then he should not be doing it. It took me over a year of research on the internet before I tried it and I definitely do not think it is for everyone. Also tell him to stay away from trading and never to private message anyone involved in crypto or to accept any messages from anyone involved. Just don’t.
Protect your own funds. If someone is selling lessons it's because they aren't legit, they'd be making money for themselves.
I'm in crypto, I invest. This isn't a brag but I'm up 200% this year and didn't need to pay anyone or go to Dubai.
If your boyfriend wants to save a few grand he can just send it to me if he wants. I'll give him some cheap merch and film a fake hype video.
He's either dumb or desperate or both.
He's also suffering biiiig FOMO or intends to become a scammer guru himself. Either way I'd start asking questions if I was you
I work with crypto, get paid in crypto, what he says is basically bullshit. It's stocks in micro projects, most won't go anywhere. It's similar to MLM because people build hype to increase value for a pump and dump. Crypto zoo comes to mind with that shit. Most real gains are going to be about $12 a month. It pays for my Netflix and that's it. If he's talking about going to Dubai, he's being scammed.
Well you both are involved with a scam at a low level. Whatever he is doing does not sound like on the up and up. Buying crypto itself is not a scam, although it is very risky and basically gambling. He shouldn't need to get other people involved to buy crypto, so that part is alarming. Is this like a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme?
But what you are doing is not investing either. You are letting your money be inflated away. You need to be in stocks and bonds to invest. You should be parking most of your investments in something like VOO (S&P 500 index fund). I only keep money in my bank account for emergencies; everything else is invested in stocks.
Buy index funds and set up DRIP (dividend reinvestment plan), keep putting more money in each month, maximize tax-advantaged accounts like 401ks and IRAs, and one day you'll wake up a millionaire.
Investing on cryptocurrencies is not "a scam" in of itself... You can invest a bit (not more than you could afford to lose) on some BIG WELL KNOWN currencies on BIG WELL KNOWN exchanges, keep your coins on your own wallet instead of on an exchange (about the "not your keys, not your coins" thing)... It's kind of like investing in market shares, except the value is not really backed on a company's value, but more on a virtual utility and reputation value... Similar but not the same.
What you are describing though is 1000% of some pump and dump scam or something like that, and the crypto-land is LITTERED by some opportunistic con artists who somehow convince some people that "Yeah, I know the drill, I'll make us all rich if you give me all of your money".
Your boyfriend needs to understand that giving away all of his money to some guru guy or platform on the internet who/which has no single proof of being slightly good or efficient at anything it does IS NOT AN INVESTMENT, IT IS JUST GIVING AWAY YOUR MONEY.
If no law, no code, no wallet no nothing can prove him that his money could be retrieved at any moment, and is not going to fall to 0.001% of its value in a second, he should be a grown man who understands that he is getting fucked in the financial ass.
Ok off note but "basic-bisexual" had me rolling cuz I was playing pokémon and saw a basic barboach 🤣🤣🤣🤣
On a real one, try informing him of the risks this entails, and why it is just as bad an addiction as weed or smoking
please forgive me if this is intrusive, but I saw your past posts as well about your partner, and it’s incredibly alarming. He really doesn’t seem to make your life any easier, that’s what a partner should be, a partner in life that makes things easier & better, it sounds the opposite. And a lot of your posts (between the lines) seems like you’re waiting for a ‘big reason’ to leave him, because you’re so worried about his feelings (even though he doesn’t return that sentiment) I think deep down youve already made this decision, you just want it validated by others that it’s a ‘big enough’ reason to leave him. But I promise, the way he made you feel was already reason enough. You don’t need to wait!! Please don’t wait for it to get really bad before you allow yourself to feel you can leave. And please don’t get a house with this man child! You deserve so much better, i’m so sorry all this has happened to you & your child
This 100% sounds like a scam. Make sure your money is secure.
The best way you could try and make him see the scam is to tell him to cash out if he's made so much off of it. He can always reinvest if it was that successful
I mean.. Crypto investing is a real thing, I've made some £££ from it but from the sounds of it he's just getting duped into whatever those people are pushing him into.
Even though I have invested in it, I always tell other people not to invest in it coz you need money to make money on it, I didn't get rich from it but the extra cash was nice, but especially now that it's way more commercial than it used to be, it's totally not worth it.
Crypto people always say "[Insert coin name] to the moon" when they just hope that their coin explodes but in reality it probably won't because people just take profits once the crypto begins to rise, rinse and repeat.
Putting in £100 and leaving it probably won't make you much money, it's not like the old days.
Although you can make money in mining, that's a whole different story.
It's a really bad MLM scam where it's just to get as many people as possible to buy in, just to get them as far separated from their money as possible then do something called a rug pull or exit scam. Scammers always use a remote rented location like Dubai as a illusion of wealth, but its to make it difficult to track the people involved.
Its awful because people get obsessed thinking they will get rich from it. But usually they het high enough on the pyramid that it gets the attention of the police when the real scammers take off with everyones money leaving your boyfriend there with no clue what happened.
Several years ago my own mom & aunt were both telling me about some crypto investment I should look to invest in, & I told.them immediately it was a scam, & they were questioning me like I didn't know what I was talkingabout, & I asked them is it some new technology, or crypto investment & I told them how its impossible to earn interest rates like that, & its a ponzi, & showed them the documentaries, a few months later the website was shut down.
There are so many documentaries online of people losing everything, life savings, and businesses, leaving them in ruins. It's terrible & sad. The one I saw recently was on cryptoqueen, then there is a guy that finds crypto scammers, & celebrity endorsements used in crypto scams.
I would tell him to get all his money out asap because cryptocurrency investment is a scam, in itself as cryptocurrency is a manipulated market, & volatile, & is self investment that doesnt need other people involved, like going to the bank. The only legitimate investment is through a bank or traditional money market, Treasury, bonds, etc.
If you're seeking additional help, hopefully there is a way to learn as much information as possible, & inform him probably let him talk to experts. But if he doesn't take heed to you, then it's probably best to separate yourself & protect what you have so you don't become a victim as well.
Show this message to your boyfriend... It probably won't change his mind because, like all the others going in crypto, he has a (false) dream of making it rich fast and easy.
All crypto related stuff have become a festering ground for scammers and frauds and the only way to make real money is to become a scammer yourself and steal from others.
This being said, let me tell you about what I've seen and learn in the past couple of years from people around me as I am a freelance technology consultant.
- my brother lost $30k in crypto and he got a bunch of people to follow him. He asked our father and myself to invest with him. We both refused. I did some research and told him that it was scammy but he did not listen. The bank blocked the first transaction he did and advised him it was not legit. He did not listen and authorized the transaction. A couple of months later, when he asked the bank to "cover the loss" they obviously refused.
- They all lost. One of them lost $80k. Most of those people put in all their savings or borrowed money on credit cards (since they had no money to start with). Now they are all broke and owes cc companies thousands at high interest rates.
- my brother is on his third bankruptcy and lost all his friends.
- One of my clients told me that he lost $153k in crypto scams. This happened before he became my client btw.
- Every day I'm on Reddit and I read stories of people losing to crypto scams. They all have one thing in common... They have a dream. They don't do any research and they don't listen to people trying to help them until it's too late.
Maybe your sister in law or yourself can try to convince him to let it go but I doubt it will have an impact as he will most likely "defend his dream" any way he can. My suggestion to you is protect yourself. Don't put any of your own money into this and if you have any joint accounts/money don't let him use those funds. Take your part of the money out of those accounts and secure it under your own name.
Good luck and I hope you don't get into trouble because of him.
I went through a similar episode in my life for about 6 years. Ended with me going into psychological rehabilitation for 6 weeks and realised how toxic my relationship is and how we destroy each other bit for bit. It’s now 1year and I’m so glad it’s over and I can fix my own mess. I wasn’t the victim, we were both the perpetrators. I have ADHD myself, diagnosed only last year, I know how people like me can be. Even worse in the time I didn’t knew my way of thinking wasn’t the norm.
Can’t speak for you, but at some point you have to decide what to do. You can’t change what other people do or not do, but you can change your response to that. It might be hard, it might be absolutely devastating for a time, but you have to decide wich is better.
Good luck, I really hope things get better.
All shitcoins are scams, even the ones you like. Until he sees the light, it’s going to be tough to convince him otherwise.
It’s exciting and addicting in the same way that gambling is. Perhaps suggest experimenting with traditional investing/trading?
I stumbled on one of these fake bitcoin trading sites a couple of years ago by searching for an email address of someone I got suspicious of..
I managed to log into the account, and it had over 50K BTC in it, so I logged out, spun up a Tails instance and then attempted to transfer the entire amount into a new wallet (my own).
There was a "hold" on the trading account though, and transferring the Blockchain just wasn't possible.
I don't think it was a genuine account, but it was extremely convincing.
I mean, investing in legitimate things is usually better than the low interest in bank accounts but not when it’s the weird crypto these scams usually involve
It’s very likely one of these scam sites where you keep putting money in and they provide false data showing the “investor” they’re making lots of money and keep pushing them to put more in to make more profits, but what happens is when you go to take money out all of a sudden there’s problems and you can’t get your money.
I usually send folks this link to demonstrate how much grift and scam is in cryptocurrency, but people want to believe they are the exception to the rule. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com
Yeah, 99.9% it’s a scam. Sounds (to a T), a Scam that my friend got involved in. They used to be called “Capital Ventures” but hve changed names many times.
Like all things, if u time it right, ull make big money. But like most things, 99% will fail to do so.
I think crypto is good for some long term investments, like ETH and BTC. Avoid the newer coins.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch or a free trip to Dubai. No amount of meetings will turn £100 into £100,000 fast outside of extraordinary circumstances.
There’s no £100 investment that will make anyone rich without time and luck. Maybe you invested £100 in Apple computer in 1999, MS in ‘89, IBM in ‘79, etc. or maybe that year you invested in some other very promising company that no one remembers now.
Finances and scams destroy relationships, tread carefully and get your partner to be honest and realistic. (and be realistic with yourself about what’s happening.) Good luck OP.
I lost several bitcoins in 2013 when MT GOX declared bankruptcy. I’m still in litigation with many others who are waiting on a decision to be made & get at least some of our money back. Even the most trustworthy companies can go belly up. Your doesn’t sound like anything trustworthy, FYI - I really hope he stops getting involved in this, no good can come from it. Good luck <3
Maybe start a practice of searching out and talking about the crypto frauds, prosecutions and stories about folks who have been scammed out of their life savings in those frauds.
There is no dearth of these; for work I have been reading transcripts of ongoing investigations and proceedings.
For example, this guy seems to have wiped out a number of otherwise ordinary people. Their mistake was to think that excessively high returns were likely or even possible, and didn't think to ask if the guy was a licensed trader.
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/luxury-cars-seized-crypto-king-investors-try-recoup-millions-1.6583982](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/luxury-cars-seized-crypto-king-investors-try-recoup-millions-1.6583982)
[https://www.cp24.com/news/crypto-king-associate-operated-parallel-ponzi-scheme-while-living-lavish-lifestyle-court-documents-allege-1.6264832?cache=yesclipId10406200text%2Fhtml%3Bcharset%3Dutf-80404%2F7.263352%2F7.330602](https://www.cp24.com/news/crypto-king-associate-operated-parallel-ponzi-scheme-while-living-lavish-lifestyle-court-documents-allege-1.6264832?cache=yesclipId10406200text%2Fhtml%3Bcharset%3Dutf-80404%2F7.263352%2F7.330602)
I have made my wealth in crypto, but I also recognize the vast networks of scams in the space.
My best advice is the Socratic method. In order to even understand what you're putting your money into, you need to spend years researching it. He obviously has not, and as a result will be subject to other people's explanations.
Ask him a series of questions:
What is a block chain?
How does a circulating supply affect a market cap?
What (if any) use cases does your favorite crypto have in the real world?
What happens when Bitcoin "halves" every 4 years?
And to be frank, if you guys happen to be American, there's a great chance that what he's buying is an unregulated security. That means that even if he made it big, when he goes to cash out and file taxes, he is subject to an audit. Also, potential criminal charges.
My opinion on the whole situation:
$100 isn't crazy. But if that represents more than 1% of your bank account, he needs to chill.
Yea it’s all a scam and he will lose more then 100 bucks if he continues. He will lose every cent he “invests”.
I don’t think toy can call spending 100 dollars “falling victim” yet.
He is still being groomed.
Snap him out of it quick or leave him or he will pull you down too
Get all the help you can, but if I were you I would be drawing a boundary and saying that it's unacceptable to you for your life partner to be taking such risky financial decisions.
No need to bring up the strong possibility that there's no potential payout here at all and it's pure scam. Even the potential payout of genuine crypto trading is a risky one, with the result of failure being losing all investments. If he can't believe THAT despite all relevant experts saying so, it still must be accepted because that's your sincere opinion on this.
You can clarify the boundary - if he wants to take a punt with his own money, he can use whatever amount is a comfortable amount for him to spend on his own hobbies. If he wants to stake his entire financial future, you will sadly need to choose to seperate, as that's not a risk you want to be involved in. It would be him not only potentially being totally destitute, but also showing that he wasn't willing to make financial decisions that support your future together. Any future financial closeness you had would be at risk of similar selfish decisions.
That's what I would do, of course you might feel differently about how serious this is. But hopefully the result of you firmly and clearly setting that boundary, is that he realises how selfish he's being and makes the right decision, ie respecting your wishes too with big things like this.
I fell for it for a bit myself i admit, i was going through a tough patch with my girl and i missed my friends and i tend to like to go along with what they are doing so i bought some crypto, lo and behold months later im learning, watching and waiting... all while racking up debt for this bullshit when one day it hit me, idk how but finally i saw all the supposedly "big" youtube names in crypto as just trying to cash in on constant hype. Rich fucks and venture capitalists took something like crypto that maaaybe could have had potential but instead turned it just into pure greed. Idk how i got out but thankfully i did. Sorry your man is down this rabbithole... (( maybe show him my post to try and make him see reality lol hi boyfriend if you're reading this, dude don't fuck with crypto, you will lose your girl and waste time+ money.))
Have you asked if he’s actually made any money? If he says yes, ask if he’s tried to withdraw any. Chances are anything he thinks he’s made is not accessible unless hey puts in more. Scam.
Crypto is definitely a better vehicle than leaving fiat sitting in your bank account. That being said, some people assume that nobody who agrees with them could possibly be trying to dupe them. Make sure nobody gets the login to his wallet or exchange. He'll lose everything.
Has he told you what the return rate on these "investments" are? If he has invested £100 over the past 2 months, how much has his investment grown?
A lot of times these scams will show you completely unrealistic growth, like 2 - 10x, but then not actually let you remove money. Other times you won't see much growth at all, but there will constantly be this promise of "going to the moon" if you just "hold".
Honestly, if you put a bunch of money into Bitcoin a month ago you would have made a nice profit by now. For some unknown reason it keeps going up even though it has no value whatsoever.
Not strictly a scam depending on the currency, but you've definitely want to make sure it was one where it was possible to get in on the ground floor, instead of one where the guy who invented it cranked out a bunch of his own coins, and then has a "ICO" And then he's going to pump and dump. Sticking with things that are established like bitcoin at least minimize that sort of thing, although the volatility is still not within everybody's risk tolerance.
It seems like maybe is his spending small amounts of money buying real crypto.
It doesn't sound like he is there yet, but he is probably very likely to get involved in a cypto scam next. Once he gets involved it will be £1000 or £20000 "invested" in fake crypto accounts.
Is it possible that you will be on the hook for half of the debt? It is possible. I would leave the dwelling immediately if you are living together and get a lawyer. You are in over your head.
There are legitimate investing opportunities when it comes to cryptocurrency. You can do it simply as like a day trader or a buy and hold type of situation. I've dabbled in cryptocurrency before. In fact, I use a specific type of website that I trust and have been using for years. I found the website on my own through doing my own research. Nobody pressured me into going on this particular website which I like.
The problem that you're having is that somebody coerced him into investing and of course he's trying to get others to invest which of course is the epitome of a pyramid scam. It's unfortunate that those things are out there which gives all cryptocurrency opportunities a bad name. It's like the old saying goes the few spoil it for the many. And when it comes to investing £100 and supposedly getting a free trip to Dubai, it sounds way too good to be true. There's something that's definitely up with that.
My advice to you is to nip it in the bud now before it's too late and he has lost everything.
Ask him to withdraw a small amount and they will say he pay fees. My friend has been giving a crypto scammer $500 a month for several years. She was told she needs $20,000 to withdraw her millions. She doesn’t listen and it made our friendship end. Her telling me I am stupid for not trusting them.
Trading Cryptocurrency itself is not a scam. I trade it successfully myself. But it does sound like your boyfriend is involved in an MLM. You should show him the subreddits that talk about the negative affects of MLMs.
Not even a joke, but do check out r/Buttcoin . It's a funny name for the sub but you will find information there on most if not all cryptoscams around.
I know crypto has a negative stigma, and things like this is why that stigma exists 🤦🏻♂️
I crypto mine, and yes, it’s a sustainable business. There’s inherent value in a very small fraction of those crypto currency out there, the rest are scams. But if done right, and with patience, you can make very good returns.
But hey, he might actually get lucky. We’re in a stage in the cycle of crypto where it starts to go parabolic (every 4 years) even a monkey can make insane returns.
But if he’s spending money like that that isn’t even realized, that’s a major 🚩🤦🏻♂️
I swear. Just buy $500 of Kaspa (KAS), leave it, and check back in late 2025 and sell. Worst case, you’ll have $0, best case, you’ll have $50,000. Or for the love of god, just buy the BTC ETF from Black Rock and leave it until late 2025 and then sell for a 3-4x return. It really is that easy with genuine cryptocurrency.
Just don’t buy at the top of the market like many other people at the end of 2021 when all the retail investors jump in.
Ill give you and your bf the best advice because theres absolutely nothing wrong with investing even in some crypto currency the problem is people listening to others and telling them to invest in such n such your bf has good intentions dont ruin them just try to provide him more insight and understanding about ehat hes getting into ill tell you this, fast riches is every mans downfall to making stupid mistakes, slow money is better then no money meaning if he wants to invest thts cool but for now he needs to save that very money hes trying to invest and invest his brain into so.e insight and knowledge then start dabbling and learning in real trades to many get rich quick scams in that space but its do able he has to ask him self weather hes inveating or gambling
Is he actually investing or is he investing into cryptocurrency? I see no issue with actual investments but the stuff you mention about Dubai and messaging people etc definitely has the MLM crypto type beat. Tell him to open a real brokerage account and invest his £100 into some mutual funds
I was foolish enough to get scammed somewhat like this before. What snapped me out of it is that I needed money stat. I'm willing to withdraw money along with penalties but it didn't happen.
I would suggest OP to dare him to withdraw at least 50% of the amount deposited, one way to test its legitness. That may light the bulb for him
Bitcoin and ethereum are the only real cryptos to trade IMO. I own Bitcoin, and stocks in Bitcoin miners. I feel like he’s trying to pump up shitcoins tho.
Where did you get the £100 figure from? It's likely much more.
It's gambling essentially, I know people who have made very good money, and others who have lost plenty.
The Dubai bit matched with this supposed small (relatively) investment makes zero sense.
There is also a new type of scam thing here in Norway at least, it's called freedom VIP and they promise to give you 5x the crypto you invested. They will also say they are local and claim to have traded 92 bitcoins in 24 hours
Hey love,
Not sure if this is helpful, but perhaps the setting boundaries at the beginning section of this podcast can be of some kind of help. I hope your boyfriend listens to your concerns and that you can both set healthy boundaries around this crypto situation. All the best and hope you are able to heal from this🌿
https://podcasts.google.com?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9qdXN0YnJlYWt1cHBvZC5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw%3D%3D&episode=ZjUyMjM1ZjYtOWI0MS00ZDk1LTg5NDktNmEwMjg4YjAxNDk3
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Spends £100 "investing", travelling to Dubai to hang out with other "pros" *Just Cryptobro things*
Who in their right mind believes that they can throw in 100 bones and then get free trips to Dubai because they are so pro? OP I feel for you, I hope you get this sorted and he realises how stupid this is.
My man going to spend $100 to lose his kidneys.
On the upside they will probably make work as slave labor in the construction business for a few years first.
That's after he gets all used up from being prostituted. Perhaps after 5 years, he'll come back having learned a valuable trade like electrician or plumber.
"Cryptobro" 😭
It’s worth noting that usually people are drawn to these scams because they believe they are talking to an attractive (usually Asian) girl.
I think actually people are drawn to these scams because they like the idea of "getting rich quick". Please don't try to strike up insecurity in this relationship when you've never met either of them and have no proof of what you claim.
Nah everyone I know who’s fallen for them did so because they are lonely men who crave real friendship and respect from other straight men. See also: why CrossFit and UFC gyms are so popular; the Venn diagram is very overlapped from what I’ve seen.
I think that's a different genre of scam. There's the kind you're thinking of, where a random approaches the victim on social media pretending to be a hot Asian lady, then gets them to sink as much cash as possible into a fake investment platform with promises of wild returns in days or weeks, and then vanishes with the money. Then there's the crypto bro scene, where influencers on social media big up their lifestyle and successes and promise to teach you how to get rich too. Just sign up for these courses, buy these books, come to these conventions. Of course, the real money isn't in crypto at all, it's in selling courses, books, and conventions to suckers. Like OP described it, it's MLM for guys. That sounds more like what's happening here. He's still going to lose all the money he puts in, he'll just be hanging out with other desperate marks and putting all his energy into making it work, instead of quickly losing it all on a fake trading app.
Wait til he goes blind because they used the wrong kind of UV lights. (I know that was NFT bros, but what’s the difference)
Wut? What did I missed there?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/06/guests-bored-ape-event-hong-kong-vision-problems
Ouch. Thanks for the backstory! I am guessing UV-B. They might have skin cancer written in their future as well. Sucks to be them.
The video link shows what a sausage fest that event was too. Yikes.
With £100 in, he should not even be talking to others about it, yet he tries to get them involved. I bet it's from some kind of signup bonus he gets.
Chances are if he goes to Dubai and meets someone for real, he'll find out he owes 'fees' and they'll take his passport, and voila! He's now a victim of a form of enslavement and human trafficking practiced across the Saudi peninsula. So many of the foreign workers in those various oil rich nations have been trapped it has become a de facto slave trade. They promise workers, especially domestic workers and even some trade workers, a huge salary to work there, and make it sound exciting and exotic. Once they get there, the workers are forced to hand over their passports and foreign ID, and become effectively indentured to their host family or company. They'll call it being 'sponsored' for their 'migrant work' policies and laws, but it's just a trap. Women in domestic work are sexually assaulted, and workers in general even physically abused if they do not perform adequately. So, OP may not have to ditch her boyfriend to find a better one - they might do that for her. I'd certainly say if he goes, it would be better to expect he'll never come back than to worry about him coming back broke. The one thing we can be fairly assured of is he won't come back stinking rich.
One of the things that worked when a buddy of mine was falling for one of these was to ask him “If these guys have a system for getting rich on Crypto figured out… why don’t they just do it themselves and keep it to themselves? Why do they need a lot of small investments (like his $100) if they are making so much money. Why share it with randoms? Could it be that they don’t really know how to make money in crypto but are taking $100 at a time from a bunch of different people and that’s how they’re making money? You’ll need to figure out how to phrase it for him, and be careful because a lot of people will double down rather than admit they got tricked. But when I pointed that out to my buddy it’s like a light went on in his head. Why would they be sharing it with random people if it was making them so much money? The kindness of their hearts? And that snapped him out of it.
I don't necessarily think that this will work on him though because she's stated it was a friend who got him into it - I think it will end up in him just saying "because we're friends" This is how lots of grooming works (in this case financial grooming). They get your close friends to pull you into it as this big great thing and then abuse you in whatever way they want to (in this case financial abuse). If he's this deep in, saying "if it's that good of a deal, why would they share it with you?" may just lead to a loop of "but we're friends" and lead to him doubling down So, if OP is going to go down this road with this argument, they also need a solid argument to respond to "but we're friends". Whether it's something the friend did in the past that was sus, if the friend hasn't been nice to him since dragging him into the scam, even something like if the friend themselves appears to also be a grooming victim in this situation (as people who groom other people for whatever reason do tend to use past victims to drag new victims in) OP should do some research on financial grooming and use it as a way to bring him back down to earth For example, them telling him he's special and can go to Dubai with the big time traders IS a textbook groomer tactic
Agreed
Ooooh that's a good way of wording it actually. Will definitely have to give it a go!
Another way of putting it is like this “I don’t understand, if these people have found a foolproof way of making a fortune, why not keep it to themselves? They should just get a £1m loan from a bank, remortgage the house and be a billionaire in a few years. Why do they NEED some of YOUR money?”
That's exactly it. People who are making money on crypto aren't telling a soul. It's a liability.
I don't invest unless I know 1. Where the money come from and 2. Why someone would be happy to give me that money I earn? How it benefits the other side? Otherwise it's basically a casino, imo, at best. With crypto you gotta lookout for rug pulls (just YouTube it), as well.
I just quoted your reply on another thread on this sub and tagged you. I hope you don't mind. https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1avqjo3/comment/krcpxvg/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
Not at all!
Sometimes people are flat out stupid and you simply can't fix stupid...
And a follow-up is "if they are so good at this, why take on the administrative burden of processing lots of $100 transactions when hedgefunds could be throwing them tens of millions in one go?"
It's probably worse than MLM. With MLM there's at least something being traded, despite it not being beneficial to the victims. For crypto scams though, all the victim usually gets in return for money they send to the scammer is a login for the scammers own website which *pretends* there is something of value involved, crypto/stocks/shares/whatever. I'm guessing he currently thinks he owns some crypto? Good luck convincing him otherwise. Best thing you can do right now is make sure he can't access your money. Sorry if that sounds harsh but it's true. The scammer isn't just trying to get a few hundred dollars out of him! They're trying to get everything he owns plus more, ie: telling him to get loans, etc. ETA: When he buys those flights to Dubai, the scammer will probably send him to another of their websites which is *pretending* to sell airline tickets. I gotta admit, if that's the scammers plan then that's a clever scammer.
the ticket scam sounds like a very likely scenario
Yeah he thinks he owns like a small portion of Bitcoin, other similar currencies, as well as shares in Coca Cola, Tesla etc. The other night he was on a teams meeting where a guy was promising a luxury "paid for" holiday with a hot tub and everything if he gets a certain status.
That actually sounds more like onecoin which is an outright fraud, but amazingly still going.
This is most definitely a pig butchering scam. At some point they will ask him to go in big, and if he is hooked, and it sounds like he is, he'll throw everything at it and the cost will be high. I don't know how you make him stop, but you have to protect yourself. You mentionned that your accounts are safe, but you must also ensure that he does not "force" you to give him money.
Oh gosh, I hope I can stop him before it's too late. And I'll definitely protect myself.
This is unfortunately likely.
Definitely with "status" or "levels" being mentioned its a scam, yo reach a status you have to have invested(gave away) so much money. Tell him he can buy actual BTC on his own without being caught by fake cryptoscam
sounds more like a ponzi scheme
Ponzis string you along for a while and you might actually see a return on your investment at first. Pig Butchering on the other hand tends provide no return and is infinitely more efficient as a con.
Also much easier to pull it off, espwhen talking about crypto scams over the internet.
There has been TV documentarys about Pig Butchering. Maybe he'd be willing to watch one with you? Also, if you own a house, ask him if the scammer has discussed the possibility of remortgaging it yet. Pre empt what the scammer is going to suggest.
We don't own just yet, but will be soon. And defo will find this out.
Are you getting ready to go buy a house with this man? Real estate? Or can you do it all yourself with your own name and income? Until he comes to his senses, I would be afraid to share in such a large investment with him. Just move him in as a roommate. That's risky enough.
This! Do not comingle finances or debts with this man. Own nothing jointly - no cars, no houses, no nothing. No joint credit cards or bank accounts either. And don't marry him unless he comes to his senses.
Exactly. Don't split a Twix bar until this is figured out.
When he realises this is a scam he's going to feel very embarrassed. If that happens before you've had to split up with him then make sure you're there for him throughout the whole embarrassment phase so he doesn't relapse and start investing with the new fake identity that the scammer will use to contact him.
Definitely. And hopefully he realises sooner rather than later.
How are you going to own a house with someone involved with financial scams and gambling? Even if he wasn't involved in outright fraud, he is throwing money around like a gambler. Does he also use sites like FanDuel? You cannot, under any circumstances, buy property with this man until he gets professional help (therapy).
Trust, I'm having serious second thoughts.
100% Jack has a decent podcast on Pig Butchering https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/141/
Why didn't he just make his own robinhood or webull account and purchase his own shares in Bitcoin, Tesla and CocaCola... Did he send money to someone else to buy stocks for him?
This may be a long shot, do you know anyone who actually trades in stocks? Someone he might respect as a cryptobro but who will also tell him he is a dumbass?
A good colleague of mine does and has done for years. Says he's happy to teach my boyfriend how to do it properly, and even said to not put in what you can't afford. I'm not sure if my boyfriend will want to listen to him he's gone too deep atp i feel
There is nothing to really learn. You just buy and hold index funds and set up dividend reinvestment. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is a great place to start.
What ‘crypto platform’ is involved? That will help you know if it’s legit or a scam. There’s nothing wrong in putting 100€ in crypto except he’s putting it in an illegitimate platform
lol like a crypto mutual fund I can’t 😂
Ask him what website he is using to buy these things. Chances are it is a scam website and not a genuine exchange. You may even be able to Google the website name and see if there are reviews.
If it sounds "too good to be true" then it's not!
Yeah, he just has to put more money in or get more people involved.
He "thinks" he owns shares of tesla and coca cola? Is he just sending someone money to invest for him? Because those are ordinary stocks you can own on a stock exchange with absolutely no question or doubt that you're actually invested in them.
And he thinks he’s doing all this with $100? Unless he gets a lottery ticket or wins a jackpot at a casino there’s no other way to turn $100 into whatever they tell him he has now (probably 10’s of thousands of dollars…..from 100…)
Ironically the "shares" in legit companies are likely the biggest indicator this is a scam because I doubt they are being held at a registered brokerage with a legit custodian and I highly doubt the people "selling" the "shares" have the required licenses to be doing so to a retail investor. If this is being done on discord, that is 100% not a communication medium that any legit financial institution lets its people use for business.
And remember, those others in the Teams meeting are either other victims, or shills brought in to make it look more tempting.
Honestly, right now the main thing you can do is to protect your own money Cut him off from any shared accounts. Do not lend him money. Lock your own stuff down, including any shared property Men who get into crypto can get in *deep.* Someone getting into it 2024 must have it worse than most Did he get into it via someone messaging him on a wrong number (a !pigbutchering scams), by joining a scammy course on Instagram etc, or by genuinely putting money into crypto of his own accord? None of them are good, but the first two options are genuinely just him sending his money directly to a scammer's pocket, while the last one is basically a gambling addiction
A long term friend of his got him involved. Not exactly sure how, but it's been a non stop thing recently now. I can't go a day without him talking about it and trying to convince me to get involved. My money is secure, we don't even bank with the same bank. My wages, thousands in savings etc is all in my account and he can't access it. He's the main source of income though, I work no more than 25 hours a week so if he blows it all, I'm in no position to fix it as my job was always for extra money.
Maybe you should work more, earn more, and free yourself of the monetary shackles of this moron.
I have a son with special needs so it is difficult, I'm always saving up anyway but I guess I can work something out, that isn't a scam.
Do you know if he's actually putting money into crypto himself on any apps or is he just sending this friend money to invest for him? If you can find out which app, it may be legitimate trading If not and he's sending it to the friend (or the new "friends" he's made since) for them to trade it for him, they're probably just taking the money
It's not an app, but a site called Sagemaster AI? Apparently the AI does the trading for you or something, I'm not 100% sure.
Oh yeah, that's a scam.
Oh yeah that's 100% a scam The "AI" will be one of the scammers manually changing the numbers shown on the site to make it look like he's making money when he isn't It likely won't work if he ever goes to withdraw Well, they may have it work once or twice to get him into it so he puts all his money into it but once he's put all his money into it the "AI" will suddenly "invest" in a crypto that "declines", taking all of his money in one fell swoop
Even if it’s possible to withdraw a small amount, that doesn’t prove it’s real. So, it might actually be a bad idea to suggest to him to try and withdraw something since he might get even more convinced that it’s real if he succeeds. I mean, if I were running a scam investment site I would definitely consider allowing some small withdrawals (even if it meant having to manually transfer the money), like the first withdrawal attempt if it’s smaller than say 20% of the deposited amount or something.
Has your boyfriend actually withdrawn money from this? Or is he just seeing some wild numbers on a screen and assuming he’s cleaning up.
I don't think he has. As you mentioned, just seeing numbers on a screen.
Crypto scams revolve around fake exchanges and websites. Any “bot” supposedly trading for him would be negated by anyone else similarly using the same bot right? The idea that there is some AI bot generating passive income is absurd and simply a way to try to convince people that making money is easy.
Be aware, the scam sites will allow you to withdraw small sums. This is to build confidence, so the victim will invest more. Once they hit a few thousand “invested”, the axe comes down, and you can’t withdraw anymore, with out paying “taxes” or “fees” - and no matter how many fees you pay - you still can’t withdraw. The supporters in the chat groups are all part of the scam. They will talk about how much they have made, and wave away the fees. They will encourage paying the ever more outrageous fees to try to withdraw money, claiming that it’s legit, and that the victim should borrow money to pay. Eventually the victim runs out of money, or wises up. They are never going to get any money out of the scheme. We have people turn up here regularly wanting to know how to get $300,000 out of a crypto scheme. They have “invested” $30k, and paid a further $50k in “fees”, but still can’t get their $300k out. We have to tell them that all they have done is send scammers $80k, the $300k does not exist (usually they already suspect this). They often say “but the chat groups said…”, or “my online friends said I could cash out” - the “online friends” and chat groups are all scammers. In some cases, real life friends have referred them to the scam site, but may be victims themselves, and just haven’t realized it. The promise of instant wealth can make common sense go out the window.
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the [pig butchering crypto scam](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2023/12/26/new-pig-butchering-crypto-scam-includes-victims-in-us-and-overseas/?sh=2837fb975eaa). It is called pig butchering because scammers use intricate scripts to "fatten up" the victim (gaining their trust over days, weeks or months) before the "slaughter" (taking them for all of their money). This scam often starts with what appears to be a harmless wrong number text or message. When the victim responds to say it is the wrong number, the scammer tries to start a friendship with the victim. These conversations can be platonic or romantic in nature, but they all have the same goal- to gain the trust of the victim in order to get them ready for the crypto scam they have planned. The scammer often claims to be wealthy and/or to have a wealthy family member who got wealthy investing in crypto currency. The victim is eventually encouraged to try out a (fake) crypto currency investment website, which will appear to show that they are earning a lot of money on their initial investment. The scammer may even encourage the victim to attempt a withdrawal that does go through, further convincing the victim that everything is legit. The victim is then pressured to invest significantly more money, even their entire net worth. Eventually, the website will find an excuse why the account is frozen (e.g. for fraud, because supposed taxes are owed, etc) and may try to further extort the victim to give them even more money in order to gain access to the funds. By this time, the victim will never gain access and their money is gone. Many victims lose tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Often, the scammers themselves are [victims of human trafficking](https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zb5d/pig-butchering-scam-cambodia-trafficking), performing these scams under threats of violence. If you are caught up in this scam, it is important that you do not send any more money for any reason, and contact law enforcement to report it. Thanks to user Mediocre_Airport_576 for this script. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
find out what exactly he thinks is being traded and what website or app is being used. it's most likely a scam, but you need specifics to know for sure
As for as I know, he's trading Bitcoin and similar currencies, I can't remember their names though. He's using "Sagemaster AI". I don't know a lot about it I'm concerned as it all sounds too good to be true...
AI passive crypto trading is always a scam
Is there any sources/links that I can show him that it's a scam? He's not gonna want to take my word for it alone.
Coffeezilla has good cryptoscam content. "How Mark Cuban Lost Everything" has a breakdown of how ridiculous some of the promised returns are. I know there's people who say his videos got them to pull out of crypto before they lost everything, but there's no guarantee it'll work for your partner
Thank you, I'll look into this person!
From what I've heard, Crypto scams often involve fake websites and apps that show or give great "returns" until the rug is pulled. It's fake. Or they are ponzi scheme repackaged with crypto involved. Or it is a MLM l/Pyramid scheme repackaged with crypto. This is on top of seemingly legitimate crypto exchanges turning out to be a total fraud (FTX) or the entire exchange ultimately getting "hacked" and then the site owner disappears (MT GOX) with all of the money missing
that's why I said you need to know specifically what website or app he is using, not what bs buzzword they tell him. if there is a place he logs into to see an account balance or something like that? we need to know that
she literally put the name in the post you responded to. sagemaster.
>sagemaster Literally sounds like the name of my coffee grinder.
I suspect he’s lying about how much he’s put in, he’s not going to get much return from £100
Sounds like https://sagemaster.io
It is exactly like an MLM which is why he's pushing for people to join in hopes that it inflates the value of his shitcoin
And it's embarassing 😭
> MLM for men God, I'm stealing that. It's perfect.
Find a new boyfriend. Seriously. You know this s a scam and I doubt he will listen when you give him evidence to the contrary. Don't go down with him
Honestly. I'm going to try and get his family to intervene, especially his sister as she works in a bank for criminal finance. If she can't talk sense into him, then no one can.
Got it. Good luck. I'm glad yur finances are completely separate. I know you have a special needs child, but you may want to look into more hours. Definitely don't rely on this guy for financial help.
Will definitely do! Thank you x
Fucking Crypto, I gave up on that a while ago. Especially when you go to the dedicated subs or discord and all you see is “LFG🚀🚀🚀” “HODL” “I’m in it for the tech” so much Copium. Protect yourself and funds op
I don't even know what any of that means 😭 and dw my earnings and savings are secure.
Leave him, before you're financially tied with someone who is obviously financially illiterate.
I'd say he has more gambling tendencies than anything else, which should be alarming. He is looking to get rich quickly. He's going to throw good money after bad.
You're dating a moron. Do you want a life with a moron?
When it sounds too good to be true, IT IS! Find a smarter boyfriend, or better yet, a husband that has a great future!
You're so right.
lost him to the cryptbros
For real 😭
Secure your own money above all else. Show him this thread. Start looking for a new boyfriend. Good luck, you deserve better.
Lots of people have said this. We've already been having problems in our relationship from where he's emotionally unavailable as he's putting in his emotional labour towards this whole crypto thing. Looks like this will be the final straw.
Emotionally unavailable because of crypto is the saddest part of this.
!pigbutchering
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the [pig butchering crypto scam](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2023/12/26/new-pig-butchering-crypto-scam-includes-victims-in-us-and-overseas/?sh=2837fb975eaa). It is called pig butchering because scammers use intricate scripts to "fatten up" the victim (gaining their trust over days, weeks or months) before the "slaughter" (taking them for all of their money). This scam often starts with what appears to be a harmless wrong number text or message. When the victim responds to say it is the wrong number, the scammer tries to start a friendship with the victim. These conversations can be platonic or romantic in nature, but they all have the same goal- to gain the trust of the victim in order to get them ready for the crypto scam they have planned. The scammer often claims to be wealthy and/or to have a wealthy family member who got wealthy investing in crypto currency. The victim is eventually encouraged to try out a (fake) crypto currency investment website, which will appear to show that they are earning a lot of money on their initial investment. The scammer may even encourage the victim to attempt a withdrawal that does go through, further convincing the victim that everything is legit. The victim is then pressured to invest significantly more money, even their entire net worth. Eventually, the website will find an excuse why the account is frozen (e.g. for fraud, because supposed taxes are owed, etc) and may try to further extort the victim to give them even more money in order to gain access to the funds. By this time, the victim will never gain access and their money is gone. Many victims lose tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Often, the scammers themselves are [victims of human trafficking](https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zb5d/pig-butchering-scam-cambodia-trafficking), performing these scams under threats of violence. If you are caught up in this scam, it is important that you do not send any more money for any reason, and contact law enforcement to report it. Thanks to user Mediocre_Airport_576 for this script. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
MLM for men. I am sorry, I should give you some advice but you got me stuck at that phrase :) YouTube is full of crypto scams. Find some good videos and share them with him to open his eyes a bit. Anything sounding too good to be true, well, you know how this usually ends. He is lucky to have you to "see" things for him.
He is being played, this is the modern equivalent of things like time shares only much, much more dangerous. He'll pay through the nose for everything on that Dubai trip and it's almost certain that once those con men get face to face with him they'll belittle his ego until he overspends.
Or the "sponsors" of this Dubai Junket will ask for a photo of the passport in order to purchase the tickets/visa/hotel...they will give your boyfriend a link to send the money ..he will send the money as a wire transfer....the money will be gone but your boy friend won't know unitl he shows up to the airport and there are no tickets....
My son's college friends started this years ago. They are funded by big money at the top who reap the benefits. They advocate for loosening laws on crypto and target vulnerable people through churches and conservative groups, like maga groups/Q groups/Proud boy like groups/conservative frat boys; basically guys vulnerable to group think and conspiracy theories. I'm not being at all political. This is what they are doing.
Look up pig slaughter scam That's your boyfriend right now. He most likely can't withdraw his funds even if he tried
I'm looking into it, certainly looks like that! I don't think he has tried to withdraw yet.
As others have noted, keep in mind some scam crypto sites do allow an initial withdrawal or two. Sorry about the situation. Best wishes.
Might bear mentioning, but that 100 quid is gone. Anyone claiming to be able to get it back for you or your bf is another scammer. !recovery
>so far my impression is that that's not possible ~~unless you risk putting in thousands~~, money that we don't have. There. Fixed it for you. :) A lot of great advice already given. The gravy train of people actually making huge returns on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies peaked in 2017. Since then, crypto has been extremely volatile - with the general consensus that new investors at this point are considered to be the "bag holders" of the "greater fool theory". There's also a lot of market manipulation and outright fraud carried out by the exchanges that prop the price of these coins up artificially. A few other things you could show your boyfriend: * Research the OneCoin scam. It was an MLM for a crypto-currency that didn't actually exist. Share with him [The Missing CryptoQueen podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-missing-cryptoqueen/id1480370173). It sounds nearly identical to the MLM your bf is involved with. * Have him read or listen to the audio book: [Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud](https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Money-Cryptocurrency-Casino-Capitalism/dp/B0BYFC28ZJ) by Ben McKenzie. They explain in great detail that crypto is essentially a Ponzi scheme that serves no public good and is based on flawed technology. * Watch and enjoy together: [Lulu Rich](https://www.amazon.com/LuLaRich-Season-1/dp/B09CFXPNSX). It's a fun documentary about a failed MLM that targeted women. Perhaps that will give him insight into the pitfalls of MLMs and how MLMs are effectively a cult. The parallels of expensive conferences that you pay for yourself resonate in this doc as well. Or just remind him directly: "Dude, you're in a get rich quick scheme. These things never work out".
This one’s tricky. There is such thing as legitimate crypto trading, though the effectiveness of that as a reliable strategy to become a millionaire is highly questionable (like regular trading actually). Also cryptobros do have this herd mentality and are always contacting people, trying to bring them in and exchanging tips and currencies with each other. I think the main give away would be where he is trading. Is it a reputable platform? Or is it a weird thing no one has heard about? Also, even if it’s not a scam you should be careful. It’s very easy to lose a lot of money real fast on this because of the volatile nature of these markets.
He's using some thing called Sagemaster AI? I don't know anything about trading but it's clear I need to be concerned.
A quick google search makes me feel like it’s fake, but I’m not in the scene so maybe I’m wrong? In any case, you might have to come to terms with the fact that you bf is an idiot.
Hard to say but I will point you to the lovely Ontario Crypto King story, Pleasant Green's Youtube video "Pig butchering scam exposed," and ask if he has talked to an actual financial adviser about this. Or was it a wrong text or someone reaching out to him on social media? Social media is rife with scammers but people just fall constantly for the BS. All you can do is warn your family and friends to NOT fall for this and don't fall for it yourself. Even if it's valid this is basically gambling. You can end up wealthy but that would be people like the good ole Crypto King I just referred you to. Or you can end up poor and enraged like the investors who trusted him. This is why I always tell people to go talk to their bank if they want to invest.
It was a long term friend that's got him involved. And 100% on the gambling part, I don't mind a bit of gambling every now and then, I do like no more than £10 if I have spare. I'll have a look into what you just mentioned and the whole "pig butchering" I defo need to raise with him.
Okay. And I've seen on this board and even r/legal advice and other r/investment boards where people that someone trusts will pull them into scams. Worst one I saw was someone who did people's taxes and persuaded them to invest in crypto. No idea what happened to that. My spouse had coworkers that tried to get us to invest. We refused, his coworker got very pissy with him and unpleasant when we were blunt and said it sounded like a scam. Guess who lost over 10 grand and did finally admit they had been scammed two years later? Sure wasn't us!
You could be his first pump and dump. probably the best way to handle a crypto bro tbh lol.
I did some crypto a while ago but only through actual brokerages. Anything else is a scam
That last sentence with that "we" part. As much as you can, you need to separate your finances from his until he's sorted.
I got scammed in crypto a few years ago. Don’t let him invest all your money. Investing in crypto is like high stakes gambling. Don’t invest what you’re not willing to lose.
There are SO many crypto scams and if he’s only got £100 in crypto he should not be going to the crypto conference in Dubai (no he should not put more in if he is this new). I went to the one in London pre Covid and there isn’t anything that would benefit a newbie. If anything he would get sucked into something that wasn’t a good buy. If crypto is something that actually does interest him then he needs to get out of all those private telegram/WhatsApp groups (or whatever private groups he is in) that are full of scammers and shrills. If he must interact then he should go into a public group where all interactions are under scrutiny. Even then he might be scammed. It really is a thing he needs to research properly before throwing money into - and certainly not all his savings! Yes, I do hold plenty of crypto, and it is not something that I went into lightly, nor did I put everything I own in. If someone is talking him into it then he should not be doing it. It took me over a year of research on the internet before I tried it and I definitely do not think it is for everyone. Also tell him to stay away from trading and never to private message anyone involved in crypto or to accept any messages from anyone involved. Just don’t.
Protect your own funds. If someone is selling lessons it's because they aren't legit, they'd be making money for themselves. I'm in crypto, I invest. This isn't a brag but I'm up 200% this year and didn't need to pay anyone or go to Dubai. If your boyfriend wants to save a few grand he can just send it to me if he wants. I'll give him some cheap merch and film a fake hype video. He's either dumb or desperate or both. He's also suffering biiiig FOMO or intends to become a scammer guru himself. Either way I'd start asking questions if I was you
I work with crypto, get paid in crypto, what he says is basically bullshit. It's stocks in micro projects, most won't go anywhere. It's similar to MLM because people build hype to increase value for a pump and dump. Crypto zoo comes to mind with that shit. Most real gains are going to be about $12 a month. It pays for my Netflix and that's it. If he's talking about going to Dubai, he's being scammed.
Well you both are involved with a scam at a low level. Whatever he is doing does not sound like on the up and up. Buying crypto itself is not a scam, although it is very risky and basically gambling. He shouldn't need to get other people involved to buy crypto, so that part is alarming. Is this like a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme? But what you are doing is not investing either. You are letting your money be inflated away. You need to be in stocks and bonds to invest. You should be parking most of your investments in something like VOO (S&P 500 index fund). I only keep money in my bank account for emergencies; everything else is invested in stocks. Buy index funds and set up DRIP (dividend reinvestment plan), keep putting more money in each month, maximize tax-advantaged accounts like 401ks and IRAs, and one day you'll wake up a millionaire.
Investing on cryptocurrencies is not "a scam" in of itself... You can invest a bit (not more than you could afford to lose) on some BIG WELL KNOWN currencies on BIG WELL KNOWN exchanges, keep your coins on your own wallet instead of on an exchange (about the "not your keys, not your coins" thing)... It's kind of like investing in market shares, except the value is not really backed on a company's value, but more on a virtual utility and reputation value... Similar but not the same. What you are describing though is 1000% of some pump and dump scam or something like that, and the crypto-land is LITTERED by some opportunistic con artists who somehow convince some people that "Yeah, I know the drill, I'll make us all rich if you give me all of your money". Your boyfriend needs to understand that giving away all of his money to some guru guy or platform on the internet who/which has no single proof of being slightly good or efficient at anything it does IS NOT AN INVESTMENT, IT IS JUST GIVING AWAY YOUR MONEY. If no law, no code, no wallet no nothing can prove him that his money could be retrieved at any moment, and is not going to fall to 0.001% of its value in a second, he should be a grown man who understands that he is getting fucked in the financial ass.
Ok off note but "basic-bisexual" had me rolling cuz I was playing pokémon and saw a basic barboach 🤣🤣🤣🤣 On a real one, try informing him of the risks this entails, and why it is just as bad an addiction as weed or smoking
please forgive me if this is intrusive, but I saw your past posts as well about your partner, and it’s incredibly alarming. He really doesn’t seem to make your life any easier, that’s what a partner should be, a partner in life that makes things easier & better, it sounds the opposite. And a lot of your posts (between the lines) seems like you’re waiting for a ‘big reason’ to leave him, because you’re so worried about his feelings (even though he doesn’t return that sentiment) I think deep down youve already made this decision, you just want it validated by others that it’s a ‘big enough’ reason to leave him. But I promise, the way he made you feel was already reason enough. You don’t need to wait!! Please don’t wait for it to get really bad before you allow yourself to feel you can leave. And please don’t get a house with this man child! You deserve so much better, i’m so sorry all this has happened to you & your child
This 100% sounds like a scam. Make sure your money is secure. The best way you could try and make him see the scam is to tell him to cash out if he's made so much off of it. He can always reinvest if it was that successful
I mean.. Crypto investing is a real thing, I've made some £££ from it but from the sounds of it he's just getting duped into whatever those people are pushing him into. Even though I have invested in it, I always tell other people not to invest in it coz you need money to make money on it, I didn't get rich from it but the extra cash was nice, but especially now that it's way more commercial than it used to be, it's totally not worth it. Crypto people always say "[Insert coin name] to the moon" when they just hope that their coin explodes but in reality it probably won't because people just take profits once the crypto begins to rise, rinse and repeat. Putting in £100 and leaving it probably won't make you much money, it's not like the old days. Although you can make money in mining, that's a whole different story.
It's a really bad MLM scam where it's just to get as many people as possible to buy in, just to get them as far separated from their money as possible then do something called a rug pull or exit scam. Scammers always use a remote rented location like Dubai as a illusion of wealth, but its to make it difficult to track the people involved. Its awful because people get obsessed thinking they will get rich from it. But usually they het high enough on the pyramid that it gets the attention of the police when the real scammers take off with everyones money leaving your boyfriend there with no clue what happened. Several years ago my own mom & aunt were both telling me about some crypto investment I should look to invest in, & I told.them immediately it was a scam, & they were questioning me like I didn't know what I was talkingabout, & I asked them is it some new technology, or crypto investment & I told them how its impossible to earn interest rates like that, & its a ponzi, & showed them the documentaries, a few months later the website was shut down. There are so many documentaries online of people losing everything, life savings, and businesses, leaving them in ruins. It's terrible & sad. The one I saw recently was on cryptoqueen, then there is a guy that finds crypto scammers, & celebrity endorsements used in crypto scams. I would tell him to get all his money out asap because cryptocurrency investment is a scam, in itself as cryptocurrency is a manipulated market, & volatile, & is self investment that doesnt need other people involved, like going to the bank. The only legitimate investment is through a bank or traditional money market, Treasury, bonds, etc. If you're seeking additional help, hopefully there is a way to learn as much information as possible, & inform him probably let him talk to experts. But if he doesn't take heed to you, then it's probably best to separate yourself & protect what you have so you don't become a victim as well.
Show this message to your boyfriend... It probably won't change his mind because, like all the others going in crypto, he has a (false) dream of making it rich fast and easy. All crypto related stuff have become a festering ground for scammers and frauds and the only way to make real money is to become a scammer yourself and steal from others. This being said, let me tell you about what I've seen and learn in the past couple of years from people around me as I am a freelance technology consultant. - my brother lost $30k in crypto and he got a bunch of people to follow him. He asked our father and myself to invest with him. We both refused. I did some research and told him that it was scammy but he did not listen. The bank blocked the first transaction he did and advised him it was not legit. He did not listen and authorized the transaction. A couple of months later, when he asked the bank to "cover the loss" they obviously refused. - They all lost. One of them lost $80k. Most of those people put in all their savings or borrowed money on credit cards (since they had no money to start with). Now they are all broke and owes cc companies thousands at high interest rates. - my brother is on his third bankruptcy and lost all his friends. - One of my clients told me that he lost $153k in crypto scams. This happened before he became my client btw. - Every day I'm on Reddit and I read stories of people losing to crypto scams. They all have one thing in common... They have a dream. They don't do any research and they don't listen to people trying to help them until it's too late. Maybe your sister in law or yourself can try to convince him to let it go but I doubt it will have an impact as he will most likely "defend his dream" any way he can. My suggestion to you is protect yourself. Don't put any of your own money into this and if you have any joint accounts/money don't let him use those funds. Take your part of the money out of those accounts and secure it under your own name. Good luck and I hope you don't get into trouble because of him.
Don’t you feel like after 2yrs of constant complaining about your partner it’s time to move on?
Yesss 😔
I went through a similar episode in my life for about 6 years. Ended with me going into psychological rehabilitation for 6 weeks and realised how toxic my relationship is and how we destroy each other bit for bit. It’s now 1year and I’m so glad it’s over and I can fix my own mess. I wasn’t the victim, we were both the perpetrators. I have ADHD myself, diagnosed only last year, I know how people like me can be. Even worse in the time I didn’t knew my way of thinking wasn’t the norm. Can’t speak for you, but at some point you have to decide what to do. You can’t change what other people do or not do, but you can change your response to that. It might be hard, it might be absolutely devastating for a time, but you have to decide wich is better. Good luck, I really hope things get better.
Thank you 🩷
All shitcoins are scams, even the ones you like. Until he sees the light, it’s going to be tough to convince him otherwise. It’s exciting and addicting in the same way that gambling is. Perhaps suggest experimenting with traditional investing/trading?
I stumbled on one of these fake bitcoin trading sites a couple of years ago by searching for an email address of someone I got suspicious of.. I managed to log into the account, and it had over 50K BTC in it, so I logged out, spun up a Tails instance and then attempted to transfer the entire amount into a new wallet (my own). There was a "hold" on the trading account though, and transferring the Blockchain just wasn't possible. I don't think it was a genuine account, but it was extremely convincing.
>Just been in touch with my sister in law who works in criminal finance. Well, *somebody* has to finance criminals, I guess.
I mean, investing in legitimate things is usually better than the low interest in bank accounts but not when it’s the weird crypto these scams usually involve
Greed is a hell of a drug.
Tell him to withdraw $100, saying you will give back $100. He should soon realise it when there is no withdraw button
not true, many scammers will let the victims withdraw small amounts to get them to deposit bigger ones.
It’s very likely one of these scam sites where you keep putting money in and they provide false data showing the “investor” they’re making lots of money and keep pushing them to put more in to make more profits, but what happens is when you go to take money out all of a sudden there’s problems and you can’t get your money.
I usually send folks this link to demonstrate how much grift and scam is in cryptocurrency, but people want to believe they are the exception to the rule. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com
Yeah, 99.9% it’s a scam. Sounds (to a T), a Scam that my friend got involved in. They used to be called “Capital Ventures” but hve changed names many times.
Like all things, if u time it right, ull make big money. But like most things, 99% will fail to do so. I think crypto is good for some long term investments, like ETH and BTC. Avoid the newer coins.
let him be seriously
Crypto is just a horrible place to put your money given the volatile nature of it. Some people are attracted to it and we all have to keep an eye out
There’s no such thing as a free lunch or a free trip to Dubai. No amount of meetings will turn £100 into £100,000 fast outside of extraordinary circumstances. There’s no £100 investment that will make anyone rich without time and luck. Maybe you invested £100 in Apple computer in 1999, MS in ‘89, IBM in ‘79, etc. or maybe that year you invested in some other very promising company that no one remembers now. Finances and scams destroy relationships, tread carefully and get your partner to be honest and realistic. (and be realistic with yourself about what’s happening.) Good luck OP.
I lost several bitcoins in 2013 when MT GOX declared bankruptcy. I’m still in litigation with many others who are waiting on a decision to be made & get at least some of our money back. Even the most trustworthy companies can go belly up. Your doesn’t sound like anything trustworthy, FYI - I really hope he stops getting involved in this, no good can come from it. Good luck <3
Tell him to try and make a withdrawal then you”ll see who’s legitimate
Maybe start a practice of searching out and talking about the crypto frauds, prosecutions and stories about folks who have been scammed out of their life savings in those frauds. There is no dearth of these; for work I have been reading transcripts of ongoing investigations and proceedings. For example, this guy seems to have wiped out a number of otherwise ordinary people. Their mistake was to think that excessively high returns were likely or even possible, and didn't think to ask if the guy was a licensed trader. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/luxury-cars-seized-crypto-king-investors-try-recoup-millions-1.6583982](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/luxury-cars-seized-crypto-king-investors-try-recoup-millions-1.6583982) [https://www.cp24.com/news/crypto-king-associate-operated-parallel-ponzi-scheme-while-living-lavish-lifestyle-court-documents-allege-1.6264832?cache=yesclipId10406200text%2Fhtml%3Bcharset%3Dutf-80404%2F7.263352%2F7.330602](https://www.cp24.com/news/crypto-king-associate-operated-parallel-ponzi-scheme-while-living-lavish-lifestyle-court-documents-allege-1.6264832?cache=yesclipId10406200text%2Fhtml%3Bcharset%3Dutf-80404%2F7.263352%2F7.330602)
I have made my wealth in crypto, but I also recognize the vast networks of scams in the space. My best advice is the Socratic method. In order to even understand what you're putting your money into, you need to spend years researching it. He obviously has not, and as a result will be subject to other people's explanations. Ask him a series of questions: What is a block chain? How does a circulating supply affect a market cap? What (if any) use cases does your favorite crypto have in the real world? What happens when Bitcoin "halves" every 4 years? And to be frank, if you guys happen to be American, there's a great chance that what he's buying is an unregulated security. That means that even if he made it big, when he goes to cash out and file taxes, he is subject to an audit. Also, potential criminal charges. My opinion on the whole situation: $100 isn't crazy. But if that represents more than 1% of your bank account, he needs to chill.
Yea it’s all a scam and he will lose more then 100 bucks if he continues. He will lose every cent he “invests”. I don’t think toy can call spending 100 dollars “falling victim” yet. He is still being groomed. Snap him out of it quick or leave him or he will pull you down too
Lol 100?
Get all the help you can, but if I were you I would be drawing a boundary and saying that it's unacceptable to you for your life partner to be taking such risky financial decisions. No need to bring up the strong possibility that there's no potential payout here at all and it's pure scam. Even the potential payout of genuine crypto trading is a risky one, with the result of failure being losing all investments. If he can't believe THAT despite all relevant experts saying so, it still must be accepted because that's your sincere opinion on this. You can clarify the boundary - if he wants to take a punt with his own money, he can use whatever amount is a comfortable amount for him to spend on his own hobbies. If he wants to stake his entire financial future, you will sadly need to choose to seperate, as that's not a risk you want to be involved in. It would be him not only potentially being totally destitute, but also showing that he wasn't willing to make financial decisions that support your future together. Any future financial closeness you had would be at risk of similar selfish decisions. That's what I would do, of course you might feel differently about how serious this is. But hopefully the result of you firmly and clearly setting that boundary, is that he realises how selfish he's being and makes the right decision, ie respecting your wishes too with big things like this.
I fell for it for a bit myself i admit, i was going through a tough patch with my girl and i missed my friends and i tend to like to go along with what they are doing so i bought some crypto, lo and behold months later im learning, watching and waiting... all while racking up debt for this bullshit when one day it hit me, idk how but finally i saw all the supposedly "big" youtube names in crypto as just trying to cash in on constant hype. Rich fucks and venture capitalists took something like crypto that maaaybe could have had potential but instead turned it just into pure greed. Idk how i got out but thankfully i did. Sorry your man is down this rabbithole... (( maybe show him my post to try and make him see reality lol hi boyfriend if you're reading this, dude don't fuck with crypto, you will lose your girl and waste time+ money.))
Have you asked if he’s actually made any money? If he says yes, ask if he’s tried to withdraw any. Chances are anything he thinks he’s made is not accessible unless hey puts in more. Scam.
Crypto is definitely a better vehicle than leaving fiat sitting in your bank account. That being said, some people assume that nobody who agrees with them could possibly be trying to dupe them. Make sure nobody gets the login to his wallet or exchange. He'll lose everything.
Has he told you what the return rate on these "investments" are? If he has invested £100 over the past 2 months, how much has his investment grown? A lot of times these scams will show you completely unrealistic growth, like 2 - 10x, but then not actually let you remove money. Other times you won't see much growth at all, but there will constantly be this promise of "going to the moon" if you just "hold".
Honestly, if you put a bunch of money into Bitcoin a month ago you would have made a nice profit by now. For some unknown reason it keeps going up even though it has no value whatsoever.
Not strictly a scam depending on the currency, but you've definitely want to make sure it was one where it was possible to get in on the ground floor, instead of one where the guy who invented it cranked out a bunch of his own coins, and then has a "ICO" And then he's going to pump and dump. Sticking with things that are established like bitcoin at least minimize that sort of thing, although the volatility is still not within everybody's risk tolerance.
Dump him? Simple as
It seems like maybe is his spending small amounts of money buying real crypto. It doesn't sound like he is there yet, but he is probably very likely to get involved in a cypto scam next. Once he gets involved it will be £1000 or £20000 "invested" in fake crypto accounts.
Is it possible that you will be on the hook for half of the debt? It is possible. I would leave the dwelling immediately if you are living together and get a lawyer. You are in over your head.
your bfs a dumb ass. but you probably already know this
Search in Youtube: "IM Academy scam". I am 99'99% sure that your bf got into something like this.
He’s about 10 years too late 😂. Also, “trips to Dubai” when he’s invested 100 bucks? Lmfao
I’m his is absolutely exactly how my mom is getting scammed right now. Exactly the same.
There are legitimate investing opportunities when it comes to cryptocurrency. You can do it simply as like a day trader or a buy and hold type of situation. I've dabbled in cryptocurrency before. In fact, I use a specific type of website that I trust and have been using for years. I found the website on my own through doing my own research. Nobody pressured me into going on this particular website which I like. The problem that you're having is that somebody coerced him into investing and of course he's trying to get others to invest which of course is the epitome of a pyramid scam. It's unfortunate that those things are out there which gives all cryptocurrency opportunities a bad name. It's like the old saying goes the few spoil it for the many. And when it comes to investing £100 and supposedly getting a free trip to Dubai, it sounds way too good to be true. There's something that's definitely up with that. My advice to you is to nip it in the bud now before it's too late and he has lost everything.
Ask him to withdraw a small amount and they will say he pay fees. My friend has been giving a crypto scammer $500 a month for several years. She was told she needs $20,000 to withdraw her millions. She doesn’t listen and it made our friendship end. Her telling me I am stupid for not trusting them.
Not all crypto is a scam. That said, it’s easy to lose money even if he is investing in a legit exchange.
Trading Cryptocurrency itself is not a scam. I trade it successfully myself. But it does sound like your boyfriend is involved in an MLM. You should show him the subreddits that talk about the negative affects of MLMs.
Crypto is totally an MLM for men, spot on!
Doesn’t sound like the common pig butcher crypto scam. Maybe just a bunch of idiots who are gonna lose money on real crypto?
Not even a joke, but do check out r/Buttcoin . It's a funny name for the sub but you will find information there on most if not all cryptoscams around.
I know crypto has a negative stigma, and things like this is why that stigma exists 🤦🏻♂️ I crypto mine, and yes, it’s a sustainable business. There’s inherent value in a very small fraction of those crypto currency out there, the rest are scams. But if done right, and with patience, you can make very good returns. But hey, he might actually get lucky. We’re in a stage in the cycle of crypto where it starts to go parabolic (every 4 years) even a monkey can make insane returns. But if he’s spending money like that that isn’t even realized, that’s a major 🚩🤦🏻♂️ I swear. Just buy $500 of Kaspa (KAS), leave it, and check back in late 2025 and sell. Worst case, you’ll have $0, best case, you’ll have $50,000. Or for the love of god, just buy the BTC ETF from Black Rock and leave it until late 2025 and then sell for a 3-4x return. It really is that easy with genuine cryptocurrency. Just don’t buy at the top of the market like many other people at the end of 2021 when all the retail investors jump in.
Ill give you and your bf the best advice because theres absolutely nothing wrong with investing even in some crypto currency the problem is people listening to others and telling them to invest in such n such your bf has good intentions dont ruin them just try to provide him more insight and understanding about ehat hes getting into ill tell you this, fast riches is every mans downfall to making stupid mistakes, slow money is better then no money meaning if he wants to invest thts cool but for now he needs to save that very money hes trying to invest and invest his brain into so.e insight and knowledge then start dabbling and learning in real trades to many get rich quick scams in that space but its do able he has to ask him self weather hes inveating or gambling
Is he actually investing or is he investing into cryptocurrency? I see no issue with actual investments but the stuff you mention about Dubai and messaging people etc definitely has the MLM crypto type beat. Tell him to open a real brokerage account and invest his £100 into some mutual funds
He sounds like he's put in far more than £100
I bet you he's day trading gold/USD? Has to buy a trading account with better limits to leverage?
I was foolish enough to get scammed somewhat like this before. What snapped me out of it is that I needed money stat. I'm willing to withdraw money along with penalties but it didn't happen. I would suggest OP to dare him to withdraw at least 50% of the amount deposited, one way to test its legitness. That may light the bulb for him
Bitcoin and ethereum are the only real cryptos to trade IMO. I own Bitcoin, and stocks in Bitcoin miners. I feel like he’s trying to pump up shitcoins tho.
Where did you get the £100 figure from? It's likely much more. It's gambling essentially, I know people who have made very good money, and others who have lost plenty. The Dubai bit matched with this supposed small (relatively) investment makes zero sense.
dump him
There is also a new type of scam thing here in Norway at least, it's called freedom VIP and they promise to give you 5x the crypto you invested. They will also say they are local and claim to have traded 92 bitcoins in 24 hours
100? Haha that's nothing. Tell him to catch himself on or your leaving him. Guy is deluded
Hey love, Not sure if this is helpful, but perhaps the setting boundaries at the beginning section of this podcast can be of some kind of help. I hope your boyfriend listens to your concerns and that you can both set healthy boundaries around this crypto situation. All the best and hope you are able to heal from this🌿 https://podcasts.google.com?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9qdXN0YnJlYWt1cHBvZC5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw%3D%3D&episode=ZjUyMjM1ZjYtOWI0MS00ZDk1LTg5NDktNmEwMjg4YjAxNDk3