Consumer complaint received 2022-08-19
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: NJ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I saw a social media post from someone ( XXXX XXXX ) a well-respected and very prominent professional in the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX and also the US, with a very charming and attractive write-up on the post : " at the moment I am the happiest man in the world. I once again invested {$2.00} within 3 hours, and I had a profit of {$20.00}. Thank you XXXX XXXX '' After seeing the post, I reached out to XXXX to get to know more about the service and she introduces herself and mentioned that she is a XXXX XXXX XXXXr in bitcoin XXXX. She gives me a quick introduction to the service and presented a few packs of investments. I picked the one with a {$1.00} initial investment with a {$10.00} profit in 3 hours. 
So, I went back to XXXX XXXX to ask about XXXX to ensure I wasn't falling into a scam. In the beginning, everything seemed very surreal and too promising, but coming from someone very known and successful as XXXX, I believed in him ; he was categorically affirmative by saying that I could trust her and I would even thank him later when I get my funds back. 
Well, I proceeded with a {$1.00} initial investment, and made the transfer via Venmo. XXXX instructed me to take a screenshot of the transfer and send it back to her, in the meanwhile, she asked me to register myself on XXXX, so I could follow up on my balance on the dashboard. 
Three hours later approximately, I received a message on XXXX from XXXX confirming that my profit had been processed. So, I could visualize the {$10.00} profit, but it was PENDING status. 
When I asked XXXX why it was PENDING, she said that I had to pay an additional {$1.00} for the XXXX  fee - Of course, the red flag went up. 
However, I went back to XXXX to confirm if this is the actual process, and once again, he said to trust her and do what she says, and I would be happy in the end. So, I transfer {$1.00} one more time via Venmo. 
After paying the additional mining fee, the status remains PENDING, I go back to her, and she immediately comes up with a new story. She says that my account type was XXXX and it can't hold the current balance due to the high bitcoin XXXX. And to get my account upgraded would need to make another deposit of {$3.00}. I was utterly lost and started suspecting that XXXX may be involved. XXXX once again tried to calm me down ; he said I needed to be optimistic that things would work out just fine. He also mentioned something that I felt a bid out of place - " Don't forget to share it with other people after receiving your profit back. You know there are many people out there who need this opportunity? '' So, I am running out of savings on the bank account and have only funds on my blockchain. XXXX said that I could transfer {$3.00} in bitcoin. 
I was very insecure about the process initially, but as I have always looked up to XXXX 's success, I could not believe that he would put himself in such a messy and dirty situation. 
After a long chat, XXXX convinced me that this would be the last charge and I would have my fund withdrawn soon. So, after making the {$3.00} transfer, she created another story saying that it would take up to 12 hours to complete the updating. 
Today in the morning, when I woke, I checked my XXXX ; there was a message from XXXX " Your account has been updated, you can place a withdraw now ''. I tried to withdraw it didn't allow it. A PENDING message was still popping up. 
Of course, XXXX came up with new charges. So now, I will have to pay more {$3.00} to the crypto revenue, so they can release the payment to my bank account and also skip the payment taxes. I said that was unacceptable and would not make another payment - She mentioned that without paying, I wouldn't be able to withdraw my funds. 
Unfortunately, it took a while to understand that I had been a victim of fraud. However, I firmly believe that XXXX is also involved. He keeps saying that he is working on it, and I need to be patient, but he also stopped replying to my messages. 
The negotiation was discussed via XXXX XXXX 

Here 's XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation