The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division received a complaint regarding the entity SXFMGY, which appears to be a fraudulent investment app.
The investor was contacted by a stranger on Tinder who claimed to be relocating to the investor’s city. After moving the conversation to WhatsApp, the stranger developed a relationship with the investor over many weeks. The stranger then told the investor she was earning money investing based on her analysis of data. She offered to help the investor make money. She instructed him to download the application SXFMGY from the Apple App Store. She then instructed the investor to purchase Ethereum in his Coinbase account and transfer it to his account on the SXFMGY application. Over the course of the next several weeks, she advised the investor when to buy and sell investments including bitcoin and precious metals.
The stranger encouraged the investor to invest more to get to the next “leverage level,” and purportedly loaned him $100,000 via a direct transfer to his account to enable him to do so. The investor invested a total of $350,000. The application made it appear that his investment had yielded large returns with a total account value over $500,000.
While the investor was able to withdraw a small amount of his funds soon after creating an account with the platform, he has not since been able to withdraw any additional funds. When the investor attempted to make a $50,000 withdrawal, he received an alert which indicated his account was flagged for fraudulent money laundering due to another individual making a deposit. The alert demanded the investor pay a $100,000 deposit to access account funds.
These claims and allegations cannot be verified by DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called "Pig Butchering” scheme. It also appears to be an “Advance Fee Fraud,” which can take many forms.
DFI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services, or using an unregistered, or unverified, cryptocurrency trading platform. Investment professionals need to be licensed with DFI to offer investments to Washington residents, and cryptocurrency trading platforms generally need to be registered with DFI as money transmitters when providing services in Washington. In addition, most investment products sold need to be registered with DFI. To check the licensing status and to find out if there are any complaints against an investment professional or investment product, please visit FINRA Brokercheck or contact the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Securities Division at (360) 902-8760. To check the money transmitter licensing status of a cryptocurrency trading platform, please visit DFI’s License Check or contact the Department of Financial Institutions, Consumer Services Division at 1 (877) 746-4334. If you live outside of Washington State, contact your state securities regulator.
If a consumer believes a person or company has violated state law or acted improperly regarding an investment product or service, they may file a complaint with the Securities Division.
Additional Resources
Virtual Currency, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets Information for Consumers