The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division received a complaint regarding the entity nasdaqon.com, a purported cryptocurrency trading platform, associated with the website https://nasdaqon.com/#/.
The investor was contacted by a stranger on a Facebook hobby group webpage who claimed to share the investor’s interest. After many weeks of discussing the hobby, the stranger indicated they would help the investor learn how to make money by trading cryptocurrency on Nasdaqon.com. The investor invested a total of $200,000. While the investor was able to withdraw a small amount of their funds soon after creating an account with the platform, they have not since been able to withdraw any of their funds.
During the course of investing, the investor was repeatedly told they needed to pay various fees to access their funds. For instance, the investor was offered a promotion through which the investor agreed to invest a certain amount in the platform and would in turn be rewarded with cryptocurrency. After the investor selected this option, the platform issued a deadline by which the investor had to deposit the funds, or his account would be frozen. After the investor deposited funds with the purported assistance of the stranger the investor met on Facebook, the investor was told their account was flagged by FINRA for fraudulent activity due to another individual making a deposit. The investor was told they had to contribute $46,000 to verify and unlock their account. After the investor did so, when they attempted to withdraw funds, they were told their account was frozen for suspected money laundering due to the third-party deposit. They were told they needed to pay an amount equal to what the third party deposited to unlock their account, and that if they failed to do so they would be arrested for money laundering.
These claims and allegations cannot be verified by DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called “Advance Fee Fraud” which can take many forms. 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, 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