ECONOMY & WORK
MONEY 101
NEWS
PERSONAL FINANCE
NET WORTH
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use DMCA Opt-out of personalized ads
© Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Market Realist is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
MARKETREALIST.COM / NEWS

Romance Scam: How Bogus Crypto Exchange Firm Debiex Duped Investors Of $2.3 Million

The fraudsters targeted a demographic and used their native language, identity to build trust.
PUBLISHED JAN 24, 2024
Photo illustration of digital cryptocurrencies | Getty Images | Photo Illustration by Chesnot
Photo illustration of digital cryptocurrencies | Getty Images | Photo Illustration by Chesnot

Bogus cryptocurrency exchange Debiex has been charged for orchestrating romance scams that led to losses of over $2.3 million. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has accused the company’s senior staff members of misleading potential customers to gain their trust before convincing them to open accounts with the crypto exchange. While Debiex assured these customers that their funds would be invested in crypto, the staff allegedly misappropriated the funds for personal gain.



 

“The CFTC’s complaint alleges Debiex’s unidentified officers and/or managers cultivated friendly or romantic relationships with potential customers by communicating falsehoods to gain trust and then solicited them to open and fund trading accounts with Debiex,” the regulator said in an official release.

Representative Image | Pexels | Photo by Designecologist
Representative Image | Pexels | Photo by Designecologist

In a romance scam, criminals pretend to have romantic intentions towards a victim, to gain his/her affection and trust. They then use the goodwill to make the victim perform a desirable action that will benefit the scamsters. This can be asking for money, sending cryptocurrencies, or in this case opening accounts and investing money with a firm.

According to the agency’s complaint, the unnamed officers and managers of Debiex cultivated friendly or romantic relationships with several customers to get them to open accounts and invest with the firm. They allegedly used websites like https://www.debiex.com and https://www.debiex.net which were created in March 2022 to particularly target Asian-Americans living in the U.S. CFTC Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson said that the scheme targeted the specific demographic as the fraudsters used a shared native language and similar identity to build trust.

After opening their accounts, the employees pursued them to invest in cyrpto. They allegedly took money from the victims promising that it would be invested in cryptocurrencies. However, instead of using the funds to trade on behalf of the customers, they misappropriated the customers’ digital assets.

It was also found the Debiex websites merely mimicked the features of a legitimate live trading platform and the ‘trading accounts’ on the websites were completely fake. There was no trading happening on behalf of the customers.

As per the CFTC release, Debiex pocketed about $2.3 million from about five victims who fell for the scam. Further, the regulator named Zhang Cheng Yang as a relief defendant. Yang is accused of acting as a money mule of Debiex as his digital wallet was used to misappropriate one of the victim’s funds.

Representative Image | Pexes | Photo by Pixabay
Representative Image | Pexes | Photo by Pixabay

As per the CFTC, to avoid being a victim of romance or other scams in the trading space, investors should avoid taking advice from people from dating and social media platforms. There has been an increase in these scams that lure victims into sending their money to fraudulent websites that claim to trade foreign currency exchange (forex) contracts, precious metals contracts, and/or digital assets like cryptocurrencies.

Further, the regulator has urged the public to thoroughly verify a company’s registration with the CTFC before investing money or sharing access to any of their digital assets. A company’s registration can be checked using NFA BASIC. Therefore, customers should avoid putting their money into unregistered companies.

Lastly, people who have come across suspicious activities or information can report such instances to the Division of Enforcement via a toll-free hotline at 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382). Employees working in such fraudulent organizations can also file a tip-off or complaint with the Whistleblower Office and they may receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected.

MORE ON MARKET REALIST
According to the expert, personal letters and a signature from Tolkien himself added to the value of the book.
8 hours ago
Chistina and Katie Currie won over $88,000 in cash and two exotic vacations with their stunning performance.
9 hours ago
After everyone backed out, the billionaire Shark stepped up to help the founder of Diaper Dust.
1 day ago
Sun kept repeating the incorrect phrase but couldn't identify the error in time.
1 day ago
After almost closing a deal with Mr Wonderful, the founder of 'Simply Good Jars' pivoted hard.
1 day ago
The host thought it was the "worst possible answer" to give even as the team felt it was good enough.
2 days ago
Adding to the controversy, the owner of Dr. Mudd's lapdesk asked Harrison for $100,000.
2 days ago
With just milliseconds to spare, Sarah LaPilusa pulled off an incredible Bonus Round win.
2 days ago
Ozark Trail 64 oz Water Bottles were recalled after the lids of faulty bottles forcefully ejected.
3 days ago
The player laughed and giggled her way through the puzzles to win prizes worth over $57,000.
3 days ago
Scott Riccardi placed an unbelievable wager during Final Jeopardy! to win a massive amount in a day!
3 days ago
The guest got a 200% return on investment on her sculpture that she bought from Macy's.
3 days ago
Jennings had a record-setting winning streak as a contestant before he became the host.
4 days ago
The player, Ron Wheeler, tragically got no clues after his letter picks for the final puzzle.
4 days ago
The former kids champion, Skyler Hornback knew what was coming.
4 days ago
The fans took issue with the clue being too tough and unnecessary for the contestants.
5 days ago
Cuban wanted to strike a deal with the founder of Coconut Girl and gave her an ultimatum.
5 days ago
Although the word did make a lot of difference, some fans felt that the decision was ridiculous.
5 days ago
The guest, who found the item online, didn't think it was the real deal until he heard its value.
6 days ago
The player Samantha secured the first big win of Ryan Seacrest's run on the show.
6 days ago