Do you want to hear what a scammer sounds like, live?
3rd May 2022 |
I got a call recently.
I missed it. Bummer.
It was a number I didn’t know, and a quick search for “who called me +44 131 XXX XXXX” confirmed it was likely a spam/scam call.
Note: I can’t give you the full number of the caller, or the name she gave me of the fake lawyer. I can’t do this because GDPR rules don’t allow me to share the scammer data until we can 100% categorically prove its a scam. At 99.99% certain it’s a scam, that’s not quite 100% so it’s been edited out here and below.
I want to take you through what happened next.
You see, it called back.
Typically, I would just hang up with these calls or block them right away. I know they’re going to be some kind of scam. But I picked this one up.
Then the woman on the other end of the line said, “Hi, Sam, I’m from freemybtc.com. Have you lost any money in cryptocurrency recently?”
I was almost going to hang up there and then… but I didn’t.
For some reason, I decided to see what this was about. I did it so that I could explain to you what happened, the red flags to look out for, and how to avoid scammers like this.
What’s more… I even recorded part of the call, so that you can hear first-hand what a scam call actually sounds like.
You can listen to that a bit later on (I’ll provide a link to my audio recording), but I want to take you through some of the things that prove this is a scam. Being aware of just a few of these will help if you ever receive a similar call, and will keep you that little bit safer in the crypto world.
The anatomy of a scam call
Once my interest was piqued, the caller asked me how I’d lost money in crypto.
I told her on an exchange. She wanted to then know how much and when.
I told a white lie.
I said I’d lost $100,000 in 2019. I hadn’t. But this was a scammer, so why should I be honest? I at least knew then I’d get her full attention.
I have lost money on exchanges before. I now even have the MtGox non-fungible token (NFT) to prove it, too. But not $100,000.
Anyway, she was very keen to then book me in to speak with their “financial lawyer” to help me retrieve my funds.
Right there, big red flag. For a start, if I wanted to recover crypto, it sure as hell wouldn’t be via a lawyer. It would be through some kind of blockchain forensic analyst or programmer. A lawyer isn’t going to help me get my money back.
However, things then got really interesting.
I asked how, exactly, they planned on recovering funds lost in an exchange. She mentioned that they worked with the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), the exchange and their financial lawyer to recover the funds.
Err, no.
Red flag city. The FCA, even if this was legit, wouldn’t help here. That’s not how it works. Furthermore, the FCA doesn’t “work with” companies like findmybtc.com.
The FCA mention was a massive scam indication. Southbank Investment Research is registered with the FCA. And you can easily find us on the FCA register. Here, look for yourselves.
You will find out how to complain about us, our head of compliance information, what services we can provide, everything you need to know when you are legitimately dealing with an FCA regulated firm.
So I decided to press this mystery caller from freemybtc.com about this “we work with the FCA” claim. I knew good and well she wouldn’t give me anything. But I wanted to get it on record that she said they worked with the FCA because I knew 100% that it was not true.
I said to her that I couldn’t hear properly, bought myself some time to get my audio recorder going, put her on speaker phone and let her rip.
You can listen to the whole recording here.
As you will hear, when pressed on information such as the FCA registration number, she couldn’t, and wouldn’t, give it to me. Why? It doesn’t exist.
Going to the website of findmybtc.com also provides no mention of the FCA, no registration number. Searching the FCA register also shows no freemybtc firm.
That’s the clearest and most obvious indication of a scam. If a firm says it’s FCA registered or has anything to do with the FCA, it should be easy for them to prove it.
If it can’t, or won’t, then do not deal with them in any instance.
That’s not to say all firms need to be FCA registered. But, if they say they are and they’re not, well, it’s easy to figure out what to do.
I also asked if it was a business registered in England. Again, on its website there was nothing to indicate that it is. In fact, it shows it has a location in Melbourne, Australia – Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. That’s right, in the heart of the CBD, or the central business district. Also, I know that Little Lonsdale Street is well over a mile long. And the company doesn’t even provide a building number. Again, massive red flag.
Also, when pressed on the “financial lawyer”, my caller wouldn’t give me anything, and was just keen to book me in to speak to him. We can’t name him for GDPR reasons. My take: probably not a lawyer. But likely very skilled in convincing people to give details of accounts, wallets, all the information needed to rip them off.
I wasn’t going to go much further with all this. I’d seen enough and heard enough to know this was a flat-out scam, so I told her as much as you heard. And that I’d report it to the FCA, which I did.
Here’s what I wrote to the FCA immediately after I hung up:
Hi, I’m part of Southbank Investment Research, we’re an FCA-regulated business. But I have personally received calls recently from a company claiming to be Freemybtc.com claiming they can help recover lost cryptocurrency and insistent on booking an appointment with me to speak to their “financial lawyer” XXX.
Furthermore they claim to “work with the FCA” and the exchange to recover funds. When I asked are they an FCA-registered firm, they said yes, they were, when I asked were they a business registered in England, they said yes. I know none of this they claim is true. Furthermore, their website, freemybtc.com, indicates an Australian company, yet the call I got from +44 XXX is an Edinburgh number.
I also suspect there is no “financial lawyer” called XXX. And I know for a fact that, had I lost a bunch of money in cryptocurrency, they wouldn’t be able to recover it, even aside from their explicit lies. I also have a voice recording of a conversation with them, where they explain all this too.
I want to report them because I’m sick of scam companies like this ripping people off giving cryptocurrency a bad name and if my report can shut down a company like this and save just one person, then it’s been worth it. Happy to discuss further at any stage or provide the voice recording I took.
This is the anatomy of a scam. This is the kind of call you may very well get sometime. You should never give out information that would give such callers access to anything valuable. Always ask questions and expect the right answers if you somehow think they can help you.
But, in practice, if you ever get a cold call such as this promising to help recover crypto or help you to invest, the call in itself is a massive red flag. If you get along as far as I did again, know what to ask, and what red flags to look out for.
But, perhaps more importantly, if you’re ever in doubt, ask us. Nothing is ever that important that you can’t take the time to write to us, ask about something you’re not sure of, and wait for a reply. We might not always be able to categorically say if something is a scam, but we’re pretty good at spotting them, sniffing them out and helping avoid them.
Hopefully this helps you, and if you know anyone else that’s looking to get into this space or is in the space, make sure to tell them about this kind of scam. It’s too common and easy to fall for, but it’s also easy to avoid if you know the tricks to be aware of.
Until next time…
Sam Volkering
Editor, Sam Volkering’s Crypto Network
