The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division received a complaint concerning a Washington resident regarding Hitbtcu.com. It appears the Hitbtcu.com website has been taken down and is no longer active on the internet. The investor was introduced to Hitbtcu.com by an individual on Facebook using the name Amy Jin (“Jin”).
Jin friended the investor on Facebook even though the investor had no prior relationship with Jin. Jin told the investor that she worked for Fidelity and that she was trading cryptocurrency (“crypto”) on the side to generate extra income. Jin represented that she had been schooled in how to trade crypto, so she knew when to gain and when to lose on the trading. Jin offered to help the investor trade crypto so that he could quit his job and travel the world with her. After a few weeks of Jin contacting him daily, the investor decided to invest $100 to see if he could generate some extra income. Jin sent the investor a link to the Hitbtcu.com website. The investor believed the website was “legit,” so he created an account on the Hitbtcu.com website.
Jin then sent the investor a link for the Crypto.com crypto exchange application so the investor could convert $100 (“USD”) to the stable coin USDT (Tether). The investor created an account on Crypto.com, which provided the investor with a wallet to send the USDT to his newly created Hitbtcu.com account. Jin guided the investor in everything he did to purportedly trade crypto, primarily Bitcoin, over very short periods of time to generate high returns. Jin began directing the investor on when to buy and sell crypto, how often, and how much he should trade for a specified period of time. Jin told the investor to send her screenshots of every step in the process. Jin soon encouraged the investor to convert more USD to USDT to enable the investor to trade greater amounts more frequently to generate greater returns. The investor did not have access to large amounts of cash, so Jin sent him a link to obtain a loan from Upstart, which he did. The investor converted $30,000 of the loan funds to USDT and then he sent the USDT to his Hitbtcu.com account using his wallet at Crypto.com.
Within several weeks of trading crypto, the investor believed that his $30,100 invested through Hitbtcu.com had accumulated gains of approximately $178,000. When the investor tried to withdraw 90,000 USDT from his Hitbtcu.com account to repay his Upstart loan, he was informed via an email from a Gmail account that he needed to pay 26,000 USDT in taxes on the purported gain first. After the investor paid the 26,000 USDT with funds he had in savings, he was informed that additional fees and taxes were owed before he could withdraw any funds from his Hitbtcu.com account. The investor obtained personal loans and cash advances totaling $188,000 to pay the following fees and taxes totaling 186,000 USDT, before learning that he had been scammed by Jin:
26,000 USDT – taxes required on the purported gains
20,000 USDT – audit fee to withdraw purported gains
90,000 USDT – first large withdrawal fee, to be returned at the time he received his earnings
50,000 USDT – an international financial deposit
To date, the investor has been unable to withdraw his funds and has lost his entire investment. These allegations have not been verified by DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called “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. 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