Consumer complaint received 2023-05-13
Company: Coinbase, Inc.
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I was offered to start a trading/investment by a guy named XXXX XXXX who found me at XXXX in a XXXX forum group page and I opened an account at his company named XXXX - XXXX on XXXX XXXX. He described himself as an investment manager who can guide me to invest successful with 99 % chance of making a minimum of {$10000.00} per week if I open an account and deposit a {$1000.00} and follow his instruction. I checked the website of the company I did some research and I decided to give it a try. I opened my account with them, and I deposited the amount of {$1000.00} dollars and after that the suspicious things started when he told me that after the deposit of the {$1000.00} I have to deposit another {$700.00} in order to buy a Bot so I can start trading and earning. After a little arguing I followed his instructions and I deposit the amount of {$750.00} because he told me that if I do not buy this Bot I am not be able to start trading. After that the trading started. After a 5 days of trading I had Earning amount of {$71000.00} and he told me that Iam able to make a withdrawal. On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX he send me a message on the XXXX application where we mostly communicate and notify me that in order to make a withdrawal I need to pay XXXX  upfront a 20 % deposit of the total earnings so I can be able to withdrawal money or otherwise I am not able to withdrawal because that is the company policy! We started arguing again because he never told for such a thing before and I started to be suspicious again that something is not ok. He started to assure me that everything will be ok and promised me that when I make the deposit of {$14000.00} I can withdraw all the money in the account. Then I contacted the Customer Service Support from the official website of the company XXXX  ( XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ) I logged in my account and asked them to explain and they confirmed that same thing as him - The company policy says that In order to do a withdrawal I need to deposit 20 % of my earnings upfront so they can approve the withdrawal and proceed. After arguing with them also the Customer Service Support of XXXX assured me that If I deposit the asked amount of 20 % - {$14000.00} they will approve my withdrawal and I will be able to withdraw all of the money in the account. I decided to withdraw {$70000.00} and leave my first deposit of {$1700.00} remain in the account and continue trading with them after the withdraw. The manager XXXX XXXX assured me again and promised me that after I make the deposit I will receive my {$70000.00}. He assured me all over and promised me again that the company XXXX and Customer Service Support never cheat and I will be able to withdraw all the earnings to my bank account without having to pay anymore money at all! They were not quite sure if I will be able to withdraw if I deposit less amount then the {$14000.00} so I can get just a part of the earnings and not the full amount. That was not feel ok for me and started to be more suspicious because {$14000.00} is a lot of money! Then I decide to try with Deposit for just the part of the full Deposit amount and I did deposit {$2000.00} so I can see if they will approve it. They did not approve my withdraw and they asked for the full deposit amount of 20 % - {$14000.00}. After all the assurance from the Customer Service Support of XXXX  and also the assurance and promises of XXXX XXXX that when I deposit the {$14000.00} and they approve the withdraw I will receive the full amount of {$70000.00} WITHOUT BEEN ASKED FOR MORE MONEY in order to receive my earnings from XXXX  I decided to do it and I deposited the {$14000.00}. After that XXXX  approved the withdraw and I started to do it from my XXXX account. There were a few options for the withdrawal on the XXXX website - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. I choose the option for a Bank transfer withdrawal and put all of the information and send the request for withdrawal and at the same time I have been in touch with XXXX XXXX instructed me how to proceed with the request for the withdrawal. I asked him how long it will take in order to finally receive the money into my bank account and he assured me it will take no more then XXXX hours. The request was approved on XX/XX/XXXX and I started waiting to receive my money as suggested. After a long waiting at XX/XX/XXXX he massaged me that I need to deposit another {$8400.00} to my XXXX account because the bank that they are using to do my bank transfer is asking for money to cover Authorize fee of {$5100.00} and Maintenance fee of {$3100.00} - total of {$8400.00} in order to finish the transfer to my bank account. I received some kind of email pretending to be an official bank agent that was looked to me very suspicious and with a lot of mistakes. Then someone from that bank contact me via XXXX and tried to explain to me that they made the transfer to my bank but it failed. And all that is happening after hours in the middle of the night and it was even more suspicious, I decided to wait until my bank is open and go check with them. I went to my bank showed them all the info and they suggest me that this is a potential fraud/ scam and I should report this to the XXXX law enforcement. I started shaking and I started arguing again with XXXX XXXX and I remind him that he and XXXX  assured me and promised me that after I Deposit the amount of {$14000.00} I will receive my {$70000.00} and they will NOT ask me for more money! And than we continued to argue all over again for a few days what they promised and all that. He started to threaten me that I will lose all of my money if I did not deposit the additional amount of {$8400.00}. Then he changed that amount to $ XXXXAfter a few days he came up with a {$6500.00} .... I contacted the Customer Service Support of XXXX and asked them why they are not doing what they assured me, and they come up with " Well unfortunately the additional amount of {$8400.00} is needed in order to finish your bank transfer! I have asked them to at least return my Deposit for a total of {$16000.00} with all the fees but they are refusing. I have tried myself to withdraw my money, but it also failed! After a few days of research A friend of mine opened a account and thru her account we asked the Customer Service Support to expI lain how is their investment exactly works. We asked for all the options to withdraw money and they assured us that for a bank transfer there is a 50/50 chance for a 12 % additional fee of the total amount which fee is for the bank! That was making sense for me after I calculated my amount it was exactly what theyre asking for and I decided to pay that amount! Then after my payment of the additional {$8400.00} they All assured me that they are working on my bank transfer and after a few hours they come up with additional fee of {$3100.00} blaming me for some delay! After arguing again All of them assured me that this is the final fee and after I pay it I will receive my money in 45 minutes! I paid the additional and final fee of {$3100.00} and All of the them assured me that they are working on my bank transfer and after the 45 minutes they bank agent told me that the transfer has been made! They promised that they will send me a confirmation but they never did! That was during the weekend and mostly night time and middle of the night because if I believe them the are located in XXXX, XXXX and they are different time zone of 5 hours ahead from XXXX! Nothing happened until next day afternoon and they come up again with additional fee for a delay of a {$2300.00}! So after every other of my few payments that I did they were coming up with more and more and that was looking that will never end! So far the whole amount that I deposited is {$27000.00}! And since Sunday they official website is not accessible from different computers, phones that I have tried! I could not sleep for days now, and I am not able to work. I have all the chats with XXXX XXXX and XXXX Customer Service Support and the bank agent, that prove all I am saying here, screen shots, transactions, account details, they bank email and all that may be useful to help. Please help me. I am divorced and I have XXXX boys to take care of! Thank you

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation