The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) received a complaint regarding a website, www.bitgetpro.io (Bitgetpro), believed to be the succession website to the bitgets.io website, which DFI had previously issued an alert about. Neither website is currently accessible. Both websites appear to have been spoofing the cryptocurrency (crypto) exchange, www.bitget.com.
The investor told DFI that he met a person named “Annie Lee” through social media. Annie Lee offered to help him “copy trade” crypto through the Bitgetpro website. Annie Lee and the investor soon began communicating on Telegram and WhatsApp. Based on direction from Annie Lee, the investor opened a purported account on the Bitgetpro website, and another account on the crypto exchange OKCoin. The investor bought some USDT on OKCoin that was used to purportedly trade through his Bitgetpro account. The Bitgetpro account showed that the investor made money, but when he tried to withdraw his purported profits, he was unable to do so. OKCoin eventually shut his account down due to suspicious activity.
Annie Lee then directed the investor to open an account on the crypto exchange, Crypto.com, and to purchase USDT in order to continue “copy trading” crypto through his Bitgetpro account as he had previously done. The Bitgetpro site showed substantial profits in his account. But, when the investor tried to withdraw his purported profits, Bitgetpro told him he had to pay various taxes and fees before he could do so. The investor paid the taxes and fees, but he was never able to withdraw any funds from his Bitgetpro account.
In an attempt to recover his funds, the investor contacted an entity he found online, Whiteswitch.tech (Whiteswitch), that purportedly helps victims of forex and crypto scams recover their losses. The investor believes he sent approximately $40,000 worth of crypto to Whiteswitch’s wallet. Whiteswitch never recovered the investor’s lost funds, and the investor is unable to retrieve the funds he sent to Whiteswitch.
The investor estimates that between June 2022 and July 2023, he lost $850,000 due to the scam.
The investor provided the following wallet addresses that he sent his crypto funds to which he has been unable to recover.
Bitgetpro: 0x6B4Cc316590E6d2a0f1ab4A421Da89d5a33d7052
0xad7Ea5C62267182322E8E771AD5B2a5a7335373E
0x3Ed4bDCb55CAcBb7a516fe9031e9Ca533653194c
0x37e36ae1af60af0b50ff1c9d28e2e548a39d12f7
Whiteswitch: 0x6bf97c3026454821F8aa181622aC9dF9a8D71f28
These allegations have not been verified by the DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called an “Advance Fee Fraud,” which can take many forms. Learn more about advance fee fraud.
This also appears to be what is commonly called an “Asset Recovery Scam,” which is a scam by a third party requiring a fee to purportedly recover lost funds in a prior fraudulent transaction. You can learn more about these scams here: Refund and Recovery Scams.
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 DFI, 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