The ad offered what seemed to be a reasonable return for working online. The client said the link took him to a marketing page with a product video, after watching the video there was a simple signup using his email. The product turned out to be a CFD trading service where the company would manage the funds on behalf of the client and that the client could see the trades and revenue, in realtime on their custom user dashboard. This company offered full 24/7 support and had a very professional website, with company address, registration, and even a toll-free number for support. 

Within several hrs of completing the initial email signup, the client received an email from the company introducing an account manager and a meeting request. The client had the call and was convinced by the account manager to start with the basic package at $250 which included CFD software. 

A few days went by and the client remembered to log in and check on the progress and was surprised to see a significant increase in value. Not realizing that this is all manipulated data, just numbers on a screen and not linked to any live trading platform, but was suitably impressed. The following day the client was contacted by the Account manager and was asked if he had seen the increase.

At this stage, the client was told if he wants to make more profit he should increase the investment and was asked what he could afford on his credit card. The client reluctantly agreed to increase the investment by a further $2000. Another week passed and the client was surprised to see a decent increase in the value. Of course, this was welcome news and the client was again contacted by the account manager, who convinced him to invest a further $5000 however this time the client’s card was declined as there were now multiple transactions from the same provider, but the account manager said they can take cryptocurrency also. So the client agreed and arranged with the account manager to buy Bitcoin through a cryptocurrency exchange. 

Throughout this interaction, the client was still under the impression that there was profit being made on his investments and did another 2 transactions so his total investment had now reached $17,500. 

The initial contact had been pleasant and he did not think twice about asking to cash out. The account manager’s attitude then changed and was abrupt to the point of belligerent, and made all sorts of excuses over the next several days. Annoyingly at the same time still asking him if he would like to increase the investment and then only cash out 50% of the investment. 

After many attempts at making contact with the company and speaking to more senior management or so he was lead to believe, it became apparent that he would not be able to cash out and receive his $1200. The client reached out to our fund’s recovery hotline and we assigned a recovery agent after filing a claim, it took several weeks of research and a lot of admin from our side, but in the end, we were able to successfully recover the funds on behalf of the client via his financial service provider.