The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division has received a complaint regarding LONTL-H5.com (“LONTL”), a purported cryptocurrency options trading platform. It appears the platform is no longer operational.
The investor received a random text message from an individual named “Annie”. Shortly after, the conversations moved over to WhatsApp where Annie started to frequently discuss cryptocurrency and her supposed success options trading. Annie credited her supposed success to trading signals received from her “aunt”, who she claimed retired as a chief analyst at the Goldman Sachs Group. After retiring, Annie claims her aunt formed a team of 79 analysts who are dedicated to the analysis and research of the crypto markets.
Eventually, Annie introduced the investor to LONTL, describing it as an exclusive, high-yield options trading exchange that is only accessible with her help. Annie reassured the investor that the platform was secure and following the “signals” would result in stable profits every time. Annie also claimed that the withdrawal process is fast, and the investor could withdraw funds at any time. When trading options on LONTL, users are given various trading times, such as 30 seconds, 60 seconds, or 120 seconds, with a purported return of 5%, 10%, and 20% respectively.
Annie directed the investor to set up an account at Crypto.com and purchase Bitcoin. Annie encouraged the investor to purchase 1 to 3 Bitcoin as this would result in the investor receiving a 10% to 20% return. The investor initially purchased $70,000 in Bitcoin. After purchasing the Bitcoin, Annie told the investor to download and create a wallet on the Crypto.com Defi Wallet application. Using the Crypto.com Defi Wallet browser, Annie instructed the investor to go to the LONTL website, create an account and subsequently transfer their Bitcoin to their wallet on the Crypto.com Defi Wallet application.
Annie guided the investor through screenshots on how to options trade on LONTL, including what trading time to select, how long to trade, and how much to trade. After the first trade, the investor made a purported 20% profit. After investing, Annie continued to pressure the investor to invest more funds.
For the next few investments, Annie told the investor to wire funds to LONTL due to claims that Crypto.com had weekly trading limits and high fees. Annie said that LONTL would match the investor to “crypto merchants” that would transfer the investor’s funds to their LONTL account. Annie described these “crypto merchants” as being located all over the world. For the next few investments, the investor wired funds to various entities overseas in Vietnam.
When the investor initially requested a withdrawal from their LONTL account, the investor was able to withdraw $20,000. However, later, when the investor attempted to withdraw funds, LONTL demanded the investor pay various fees, such as audit fees, withdrawal fees, maintenance charges, and blockchain fees. These fees were never disclosed to the investor prior to investing. After paying some of the fees the investor is still unable to withdraw their funds and purported profits. The investor lost a total of over $1.2 million. These allegations have not been verified by DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called Advance Fee Fraud which can take on many forms. It also appears to be what is commonly called a Pig Butchering Scheme (or Cryptocurrency Investment Scheme), and/or a Romance Scam.
DFI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services or advice. 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 (https://brokercheck.finra.org) 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 formal complaint with the Securities Division.
Additional Resources
Virtual Currency, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets Information for Consumers