Chen Beiqi
Northwest Asia Weekly
Connie Trinh’s (pseudonym) curiosity cost her $170,000.
Seemingly harmless online conversations with strangers made her the victim of a pig slaughtering scam named after the way scammers build trust over time by offering victims financial or romantic promises (to fatten up pigs) . Empty promises quickly turn into painful fulfillment and shame when the crooks disappear with the victim’s money. It is social engineering that pulls the strings of the heart and wallet.
Information for victims about MDTCOIN
scammer’s instagram account
“Scams are a variation on a theme, and it’s easier to use cryptocurrencies,” said Jason Chan, a former Netflix vice president of information security and now a cybersecurity consultant.
Victims lose a lot of money in a short period of time due to the ease of clicking a button.
“Cryptocurrency enables all kinds of crimes and scams. Anything that comes from the internet, you need to be careful, especially newcomers,” warns Chen.
Trinh met a new friend online in March. This seems harmless. A person named Li Wei or Levy complimented Trinh’s photo of her and her friends on Instagram.
“The picture is good,” he said, before asking, “Do you know what if God gave me a wish?”
“Usually people say ‘you look beautiful’ or ‘did you do beautiful’,” Trinh said. Trinh ignored the comments.
This is different. She asked, “What’s the matter?”
Li immediately told Trinh to switch their chats to the untraceable messaging app WhatsApp.
Routine greetings and casual conversations became more personal. Lee told Trinh that he was from Singapore and wanted to know about the United States. He confided to her that his partner had broken up with him. Trinh comforts him. Lee claims his parents live in Thailand and he and his sister live in Singapore, where they own a design company.
Trinh checked out his company on Instagram. Although the information is new, she thinks it looks legitimate.
“There are a lot of red flags. But I’m also stupid,” Trinh blamed himself.
Lee continued to comb Trinh. He told her that his company had been hit hard during the pandemic. He had to invest in cryptocurrencies to ensure his employees were paid. Li is willing to teach Trinh how to invest. He wanted to help her achieve financial independence because she was “too good.” Trinh said she never expressed any financial hardship or displeasure to Lee.
“That’s why I’m so upset about myself responding even to strangers. My life is complete. It’s okay. I don’t even need money,” Trinh said.
Fraudster’s Singapore passport.
But she wanted to learn to invest. Li, who says he majors in global economics, has a respected professor who helps him understand and analyze investment data. Li suggested that Trinh open a Coinbase account and download the platform MDTCOIN Exchange to start trading.
Coinbase is a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange that can be linked to bank accounts. MDTCOIN may be associated with Lee’s bank account.
Trinh googled MDTCOIN. There is not much information online. Li told her that the platform was new and only those who were invited would know about it. Trinh trusts Li.
“He was very focused on teaching me. He told me at first that it was only $500 to invest,” she said. She will send money to “her account” at MDTCOIN via Coinbase. She didn’t know until later that she deposited the money directly into Li’s wallet.
Every day, according to Lee’s analysis, they buy low and sell high. Profits range from 5% to 10%.
“It’s very realistic,” Trinh said. “One day, he’ll say, ‘The numbers are bad. We’re not trading today.'”
She carefully took out the money to test the system. The small retreat worked. She put in more money — $3,000 so far.
Lee convinced Trinh to increase her investment. He also told her that MDTCOIN could provide her with a loan. There are no phone numbers that MDTCOIN Trinh can call. A customer service assistant helped her with a chat. She borrowed $50,000 and paid it back in 21 days.
Her account quickly grew to $250,000. Li told her not to share it with her family for the time being and waited to withdraw the money. In any case, she withdrew $2,000. efficient. She is addicted.
To repay the MDTCOIN loan, Trinh borrowed $30,000 from BECU, $10,000 from her mom, and $10,000 from her best friend. She has 30 days to pay off the credit union.
Li has good data on Bitcoin transactions and has achieved higher returns. He told Trinh she needed another $150,000 to trade bitcoin. She borrowed money from MDTCOIN and has 15 days to pay it back. Meanwhile, her account is growing 5% to 15% a day.
To repay the MDTCOIN loan, she borrowed $100,000 from three banks and more from her friends.She deposits the money into her Coinbase account and transfers the money to her
MDTCOIN account. When she paid off her MDTCOIN loan, Trinh saw her account rise to $1 million.
“I’m super excited because I can withdraw the money and pay everyone back,” Trinh said.
When it was time to pay off the bank loan, Li told her to take the money out. She needs to pay taxes. MDTCOIN says Trinh owes ‘international’
tax office. ” Lee offered to help her raise $50,000, but she had to raise $120,000.
“He’s still trying to get more money out of me,” Trinh said.
Trinh tried to find information about the tax office. No. She confronts Lee, who denies everything.
Pigs were slaughtered.
She finally told her husband. “It affected my trust in my husband,” Trinh said. “He could smell the hoax from miles away.”
Trinh and her husband are using their savings and monthly repayments to pay off the loan. Life as a family of four is not as comfortable as it used to be, and they are cautious about their spending. Their daughter’s future college costs loomed.
Trinh wants the community to learn from her mistakes.
“If it’s too good to be true, that’s great,” Trinh said. She knew it in her heart, but she still fell for it.
“You should never send money or ‘invest’ to someone you’ve never met,” said Tammy Mizer, a white-collar crime oversight special agent with the FBI in Seattle. Unfortunately, in many cases, the crooks are located overseas, which makes The investigation becomes difficult.”
The FBI has a presence in many foreign countries and works closely with its counterparts there.
“But if we don’t report it immediately, we don’t have any chance of getting the money back,” Mizer added.
Trinh reported her losses through the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at http://ic3.gov.
IC3 is the central repository for collecting Internet complaints. Complaints are analysed and forwarded to the relevant investigating bodies. According to the FBI, IC3 received more than 4,300 complaints related to these social engineering scams in 2021, with losses exceeding $429 million. The site is filled with the latest phishing information and information on preventing becoming a victim of phishing.
Becky can be contacted by info@nwasianweekly.com.
