OK, so disclaimer, I'm not the most educated about crypto, but I've only been a dabbler. I bought some coins during pandemic when I wasn't spending money elsewhere and tried my hand at investing. Honestly, the only movement I've made is a couple sales. Otherwise it's just been sitting there.
I am incredibly embarrassed that I fell for this scam, because a lot of the signs were there, and I missed them. This scam seems very sophisticated, (even the folks at Robinhood and Coinbase seemed surprised.
I want to warn you all and/or see if any of you have experienced similar.
THANKFULLY I caught on before losing money. In fact I still made money because I bought in at low amounts, but one step of the scam had me selling off coins right before the big surge this week, and I don't think I'll ever get the chance to buy back in at the price I did.
I've had knots in my stomach for days. I haven't told anyone IRL because I'm so embarrassed, so I'm telling you, my stranger friends. Buckle up.
Here's what happened:
- I received a call from "Coinbase." They told me that my account had been compromised (honestly, this should have been my first flag). They asked me "did you log on at X time from an Android device?" I confirmed that I had not, I don't use Android. They could also see that my ID wasn’t up to date, which was true. So I updated my credentials while I was on the phone with them. Note: at no point during this scam did I give them any account numbers or additional personal info.
- They told me that because of the breach, I should secure my assets by moving everything to an offline wallet. Seems smart. I had been meaning to do that anyway. They also said I should convert everything to Ethereum because it's a more secure coin and they would be able to write up an insurance policy on it, which they would send the next day. I said I wasn't going to do anything until I received that policy. They also said I'd be reimbursed for any transfer/selling fees I made along the way.
- They asked me if I had experienced any other fraud recently or if any other accounts that could have been compromised. I told them I had assets in Robinhood. I also *did* have my CC compromised about a month ago, so the fact this could have been a bigger breached seemed plausible. They told me I should move my Robinhood assets too. They even "had someone from Robinhood on the line" that they claimed to be consulting with and they transferred me to them at one point as well.
- So at this point, I'm starting to think this all sounds super scammy. Both of the dudes I talked to were from Britain, they were calling late in MY time zone which would have been like, 3am there. "This all sounds super scammy" I said. They were like "we understand, we're going to send you an email so you know it's us. It'll have a case number as well as my name."
- I received an email with a "case number" from Coinbase, with this guy's "name." It was only later that I saw the email was [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])/help via tsc-tech.com. Turns out the latter is not a working website, and why would an email address be /help?
- So I confirm that I got the email, and now they say the Robinhood person is going to call to figure out next steps. I get a call back and the "Robinhood" person. I'm like, "dude, it's really late, and I can't talk for another 40 minutes, can we please speak tomorrow?" He insists and instills fear that this should happen tonight to avoid fraud. I even asked "can't you just put a hold on my account?" And again, he claims it wouldn't be safe or insured if anything were to happen in the meantime. So that's when I caved. Why I didn't hang up and contact Coinbase proper is beyond me and I'm kicking myself for it.
- He tells me I should send my assets to Coinbase and convert to Ethereum (again, so it could be "insured"), so I could send it to a crypto wallet. My Robinhood assets were more difficult to transfer, so we decide I should send to my bank and then to Coinbase (again, they claim I'll be reimbursed for any fees). WHY DID I NOT CATCH ON HERE?
- They walk me through setting up a wallet. I was going to use the Coinbase Wallet, but for some reason that wasn't working, so I did the Robinhood Wallet instead. They walk me through all the steps and even had a 12-word verification/setup code. They have me copy the link to the wallet address, so I send my Coinbase assets to the wallet.
- I could only send a certain amount of money from my bank, and this seemed to puzzle them (again, I should have caught on here). So I transfer what I can. I can only SEND a certain amount to the wallet as well. I send two separate transactions to the wallet. They both ended up pending for like 4 days, but they've finally landed.
- So we decide that, because of the limit I could send from my bank, I should send the money from my bank incrementally. So we'll continue tomorrow. WHY DID I NOT CATCH ON?
- They call me the next day and I transfer more money into the account, but there's a limit to what I can send. The details get fuzzy here, and I can't remember how that call ended. But now I'm starting to realize that things are way shady.
- I start looking things up and learn that these companies never call you. I try calling the numbers back. One has a Google Voice automated response, and the other has a busy signal. I am so fucked.
- So I do what I SHOULD have done before even talking to these a-holes, and I talk to Coinbase support. They confirm that they would never call, but send an email first. I also talk to Robinhood Support. I was on the phone for an hour with each of them, and now both accounts are locked. Robinhood has been very helpful, and they're doing a full-scale investigation. Coinbase was not as helpful, and I can't send, receive, or buy anything for thirty days.
- Oh, and shocker, no "insurance policy" ever came.
This all happened the day before Election Day, so I missed out on huge surges, and again, I won't be able to buy back in at my original price.
So that's the story. I feel like an absolute moron for falling for this. I should KNOW better. But these sick jerks are able to put you into panic mode so that you make rash decisions and go against your gut.
Robinhood is investigating. It looks like there were fraudulent logins earlier this year from Firefox, which I haven't used in over a decade. I know I won't be able to recover anything and especially at that price point (though Robinhood would neither confirm nor deny). After doing some research I'm pretty sure that if *I* moved/sold the crypto (as opposed to it just being stolen from me), they're not going to be able to recover it. Crypto isn't insured by FDIC or anything like that.
Thankfully they didn't get my money. I have no idea at what point they were going to intercept it, but they failed. I also NEVER gave them any personal information. So maybe they were in my account since they could see my ID wasn't up to date? No clue. I am looking into reporting this to the FBI and Interpol. I have all the receipts of phone calls, numbers, times, etc. Probably don't do much though.
OH! And then they tried calling me again yesterday! I told them that I already spoke to Coinbase, that I knew they were a scam, and that I wasn't answering any more questions. The guy was like "I understand miss, but..."I hung up and they tried calling back AGAIN! They are so aggressive!
So anyway, that's the story. Hopefully you aren't as much of a dumdum as me, but I warn you all to be very wary of talking to anyone. I feel like an absolute dipshit, and when this surge started going up, my stomach went deeper and deeper into a pit of despair.
Does *anyone* have any experience like this? Again, both the Coinbase and Robinhood were shocked at how sophisticated this was. I also tried googling to see if other people had similar experiences and couldn't find much.
Thank you for listening. I hope you can show some empathy because I'm already feeling at my rock bottom of despair.
Edit: really don’t need all the comments telling you how stupid I am. I already know that. Just move along if you don’t have anything constructive.
Edit 2: already have people messaging me on here saying they’ll help recover my funds. Why are people like this?
