Consumer complaint received 2021-05-25
Company: Foris DAX, Inc.
State: MI
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
I funded a prepay Visa card on Crypto.com. It is their own specific card and alongside the card there are perks. I chose the $ XXXX level. Importantly, it advertises 'no fees ' for 30-days. 

I initiated this transaction of $ XXXX ( it actually turned out to be {$3900.00} on XX/XX/2021. This money goes toward the company 's own cryptocurrency called CRO and that amount of CRO  is then 'staked ' - i.e., it draws some interest while you do not touch that CRO  ( # XXXX was the amount at over {$0.00} per CRO. ) I used my XXXX debit card. At the time, I was new to cryptocurrency. The app when initiating the crypto visa card invites you to use a credit card or a debit card to fund this account. There is also something called a XXXX XXXX  for which I was not familiar with. There is the ability to wire money to the XXXX XXXX and that address is in the US. Nowhere on the website does it state that, basically, this is a foreign company. It is situated in XXXX. 

After the charge on my debit card, I watched for the funds to clear the account. It seemed to take a very long time. While often purchases on either a credit card or a debit card are in a pending mode, it is normally for a day ( or two ) at the most. This went on for several days. The final date on the bank statement was XX/XX/2021 but I remember it actually all going through on the XXXX. During that pending stage it did not show the name of the company - Crypto.com - but rather the three letters CRO which is the call name for their particular cryptocurrency. It showed that one charge was pending. 

By XX/XX/2021, I decided to buy some Bitcoin and that charge to my XXXX debit card was {$2500.00}. That also went into a pending mode and was noted as " CRO '' in a grayed out manner as it was pending. 

On XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/2021, I also made two other purchases using my XXXX XXXX  debit card. These two purchase were for CRO {$170.00} and {$170.00}, respectively. These two purchases also went into a pending mode and were labeled as CRO on my internet banking account. There were no extra charges showing while in this pending mode on any of the four charges that I just described. The two XXXX XXXX  charges described cleared the same time on XX/XX/2021. 

With all four charges - two on XXXX XXXX  and two  on XXXX XXXX  - there were 'fees ' attached and they were {$110.00} and {$77.00} on my XXXX  XXXX  account and {$5.00} and {$5.00} on my XXXX  XXXX account, totaling {$200.00}. To me, these fees were exorbitant- especially considering that the Crypto.com put it up front and center that there would be no fees for 30 days. I attempted to contact them to discuss these fees which they denied were their fees. The bank had also, initially, erroneously denied that they were their fees. It was not until the charges had gone through with these additional fees that I understood that Crypto.com is a foreign company. The address to wire the money is in NY. The banks would not reverse the fees and I then disputed the charges because although that I was promised no fees for a 30-day period, they did not disclose that they were a foreign country and any use of a debit card ( or most credit cards ) would incur such fees. 

Although I disputed the charges, as a means to work with Crypto.com and make them secure in the charges, on the same day that I initiated the disputes on these four charges, I wired {$10000.00} to my XXXX XXXX and for this courtesy to the company, I incurred a {$30.00} fee. However, I wanted them to have the money that was initially agreed upon. I sent chat messages- the only means available to discuss anything with this company - explaining that I had a disputed the charges and also strongly suggesting to them that if they are going to advertise 'no fees ' for 30-days and that they, obviously, know that they are in a foreign country relative to the US, they should not be putting up the option of funding the account with either a credit card or a debit card unless that clearly state to their customers that they are a foreign company and fees from the bank will most likely be incurred. 

I learned over time how to fund the account via ACh without the wiring fee. It was difficult to understand how to do this being completely new to " XXXX XXXX. '' It was difficult to get customer service help. I would go on to deposit another $ XXXX into the account in this manner as I bought other cryptocurrency from this newly funded wallet. Three purchase added up to XXXX coins of SHIBA INU which totaled about {$1100.00} and I purchased some more CRO  as well as ETH. There was more than enough money in the account to cover all the disputed purchases. 

On XX/XX/2021, I noticed that my account, basically, did not work. I could not buy or sell cryptocurrency and there was over {$7800.00} of my money which I could not use for purchases via the app or transfer back to myself. All of the cryptocurrency - both CRO and BTC ( Bitcoin ) - that was purchased via the now disputed debit transactions were taken back. The CRO and BTC had been 'staked ' and were drawing small amounts of interest on a weekly basis. That was also taken back. Rather than simply taking the money to cover these amounts which I had said multiple times in messages during the time between XX/XX/2021 and XX/XX/2021. 

I started sending messages to them, again, about the state of my account. Notably XXXX SHIBA INU were gone and these were not purchased via a debit card transaction but rather with money that I had sent to my account. With every message that I sent - multiple every day - I received a generic, robot-like response ( paraphrasing ) : " we are very busy and apologize but will get back to you in 24 hours. '' They did not answer my messages. I even called their one phone number which is for VISA card concerns only. They had sent me a message on XX/XX/XXXX, that my VISA card had been shipped ; however, it did not arrive until approximately XX/XX/XXXX. Because I finally had the card in hand, I called multiple times and finally got through. I stated my concerns and that there had been adequate money in my account to cover all purchases and that I would be willing to proceed with the card activation but that they needed to take the funds and return my cryptocurrencies that had been taken - especially the SHIBA INU - and allow me access to my own XXXX XXXX to withdraw money from the wallet with any money left in the account after all payments were made. 

This person stated that they would follow through with my concerns AND get back to me. He did neither. During these dozens of messages that I sent the Crypto.com customer service via chat, few people actually said anything beyond 'we are busy and we will get back with you ' - for a period of 8 or so days. Finally, I was told that 'a team ' was now looking into my concerns and that the customer service would get back with me as soon as they heard something. Meanwhile, the crypto market went into a huge dip and all my liquid resources were pretty much locked into the Crypto.com XXXX XXXX and I could buy nothing. Finally, about XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX in the morning I receive a message from one person who states that Crypto.com will not unfreeze my assets unless I provide them with a letter from the two banks stating that I have canceled my dispute with the company - even though they have taken back all those items purchased on the debit cards as well as over {$7800.00} of my money which, obviously, does not belong to them. 

What they did, initially, with the fees and the non-disclosure that these would be foreign transactions was poor behavior. Holding my assets and stating that they will not relinquish assets that do not belong to them until I provide these cancellation letters is coercion and illegal. They have also caused me countless hours of my time as well as emotional distress and outright anguish and fear. I am a XXXX-year old woman and I have greatly suffered emotionally, mentally and physically. 

I have tried incredibly hard to work with these people. However, their last decision - telling me that they would not correct my account unless I canceled the disputes previously mentioned is unconscionable. It is my legal right to these claims ; furthermore, they have repeatedly shown that they are a company who will do anything and say anything to make money and they do not service their customers. They certainly have not been concerned about myself and my satisfaction with their company. With every credit card account that I have, I have never had any problems. Furthermore, should there be a problem with a merchant, I could always count on the many credit cards that I do possess to advocate for my rights with that merchant. I do not believe, now, that Crypto.com would protect me as a consumer to the legal level that they could. They offer extremely poor customer service even if nothing goes wrong. I sent them a lot of money in good faith as a means to work with them- and they are now holding it and it does not belong to them. Unfortunately, I did this after I sent them this money but if you XXXX " Crypto.com customer service reviews '' - you will see that many, many people have been very happy with their dealings with this company. They have a serious flaw in their company. I have multiple bank accounts, mortgages, credit cards, brokerage account and none of them are this difficult to get and none of them would ever proceed as this company has chosen to proceed. They took a person who could have added hundreds of thousands of dollars- if not more - to their capital but they chose to treat me very, very badly.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief