The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division has received a complaint regarding Wei Liu (“Liu”), and a purported cryptocurrency exchange platform, nhbrsk.com (called NHB Trading House on its Facebook page). Liu claimed to be a California resident, but this has not been confirmed, and it is likely a fictitious name. Liu, a purportedly successful cryptocurrency trader, instructed the complainant to invest in cryptocurrencies through purported digital trading platforms. Liu initially instructed the investor to open an account with fameexosa.com, then advised the investor to switch to bitpieexc.com, then fpgcoinltd.com, and finally nhbrsk.com. Only the bitpieexc.com website is accessible at this time. According to online reviews, bitpieexc.com is a fraudulent website imitating the cryptocurrency trading platform Bitpie (bitpie.com). Public information indicates the bitpieexc.com domain was registered on October 17, 2023. The websites, fameexosa.com, fpgcoinltd.com, and nhbrsk.com are no longer available.
The investor learned of Liu through a real estate agent acquaintance who apparently invested through Liu and invited friends and associates to invest. The investors communicated with Liu via messaging apps, WhatsApp and LINE. The phone numbers Liu used were 650-263-7118 and 213-877-2250. Liu guided the investors step by step on making cryptocurrency trades using the messaging apps and screenshots. It appears Liu used the aliases “Allen”, “Li”, and “Nick”, changing his name in the messaging apps over time. The complainant invested approximately $46,000. Another investor invested at least $99,000. They transferred cryptocurrency to the perpetrator’s wallet from their own digital accounts. From there it appears their cryptocurrency was immediately transferred and moved through a decentralized exchange which does not appear to require customer identity verification.
The investors’ accounts reflected their deposits and profits. However, when it came time to withdraw the funds, Liu made excuses, for instance, claiming that the funds could not be withdrawn until a later time due to tax reasons. When the presented time arrived, Liu vanished. The investors have not been able to retrieve any of their funds or purported gains.
These allegations have not been verified by DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called an “Advance Fee Fraud”, which can take many forms. This 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 formal complaint with the Securities Division.
Additional Resources
Protecting Yourself from Financial Fraud
Virtual Currency, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets Information for Consumers