The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division received a complaint concerning a Washington resident who invested through ssjtcf-group.com, a website claiming to be a trading platform for investments such as stocks, precious metals, and Bitcoin, and claiming to be regulated by the U.S. Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The website is no longer active.
The investor met a stranger named “Jenny” through Facebook messenger who claimed to be able to help the investor spot trade gold through the online trading platform ssjtcf-group.com (SSJTCF). Jenny claimed that her uncle is a financial analyst who coached her in how to spot trade gold. Jenny offered to help the investor make a good profit with this type of investment. The investor and the stranger continued to communicate using apps such as Line, Telegram and WeChat. The investor decided to try spot gold trading through SSJCTF, with the stranger directing his trading. The stranger told the investor everything to do to begin trading, including establishing accounts or wallets on crypto exchange Crypto.com, Imtoken, and SSJTCF. Once the investor had established the accounts, the stranger told the investor to transfer Ether to his SSJTCF account at the wallet addresses provided by the stranger.
The investor began trading crypto currency and spot trading gold on his own using his account established on SSJTCF. The investor was able to make a few small withdrawals from his SSJTCF account totaling approximately $2,500. When the investor believed that his account had reached a purported value of $2.3 million, he tried to withdraw the bulk of his purported gains. The investor was informed by SSJTCF’s “Customer Service” that he needed to send over $70,000 to pay a one percent tax owed, before he could receive any distribution. The investor was provided with two wallet addresses to send the funds to, in order to pay the purported taxes. The investor sent the funds as instructed but has not been able to withdraw any of his purported gains. The investor estimates his losses at over $100,000. These allegations have not been verified by DFI.
The investor was instructed to send his cryptocurrency investments to the following wallets at SSJCTF:
- 0x2fccECAa2EC9F10Dce4Db9e1708F2EDB8436Cf93
- 0xC19E6750d5591593f568EaD471Fada83f1eFE2b9
- 0x55C31F1825D803348902B36282D3C46D5267CF4A
- 0xdbA8d8cc2cA5F2F914ce6e1F15fDAB87ABdB754A
The investor was instructed to send funds to the following wallet addresses to pay the purported tax owed:
- 0x7e488A42C5cBF5F5d6835496dc213fF258a86433
- 0x379734Efa014669cBB92dcA7772a0E0DB1543DF3
This appears to be what is commonly called “Advance Fee Fraud”, which can take many forms. Learn more about advance fee fraud.
It also appears to be what is commonly called a Pig Butchering Scheme.
DFI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services. Investment professionals need to be licensed with DFI to offer investments to Washington residents. 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. 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