Consumer complaint received 2023-08-02
Company: Foris DAX, Inc.
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I met on XXXX a woman who identified as XXXX XXXX with phone number XXXX who initially agreed to meet me in XXXX but indicated that she left for XXXX XXXX to take care of her sick mother. She indicated her profession is a financial advisor and an investor. She gave her mother the phone number XXXX. She avoided giving her address due to earlier harassment or coming on video chat. She communicated with me on XXXX and occasional phone calls. She had a XXXX accent. She informed me she is fluent in XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. We had a romantic chat on XXXX all along. She invited me to cryptocurrency trading and guided me to register with the reputed company called Crypto and goes with an app called Crypto.com and then to Crypto.com app and its XXXX app where these XXXX can be linked which I did. Then she guided me to the short-term trading platform XXXXXXXX browser within the XXXX app. I sent a wire transfer through XXXX  XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to Crypto.com receiving an address for XXXX USD as a start. She navigated the process of buying XXXX transferring them to XXXX, and posting them to this short-term trading platform address. She showed me a gain of 25 % in a minute of trade with a timed bet. Then she encouraged me with high pressure to send more to gain more which I did in steps with the last transaction of wire transfer on XXXX XXXX totaling XXXX USD. I had borrowed XXXX from three loans. The rest are my own savings. She also tranferred XXXX USDT to my account in this shor-term paltform. In between the trades, she said she transferred XXXX of her own money to boost the trading capacity to my account in the short-term platform. With the timed bets given by her on the trades, by XXXX XXXX the total balance on the account I have at the short-term platform reached XXXX XXXX. I waited for her to continue, but she insisted on putting in more money by borrowing it and sending it to the platform. I refused as I got stretched thin financially. Then I asked her guidance to withdraw and she asked me to send instructions to customer service of the short-term platform as " all withdrawal ''. The customer service indicated that the gain is XXXX, so a 12 % tax comes to XXXX, and wanted the tax payment in Cryptocurrency sent to the account in the short-term trading platform after which they shall allow the withdrawal. The deadline for payment was set as XXXX XXXX. I requested her to help but she declined and asked me to arrange the payment on my own. So, I withdrew XXXX from my XXXX at XXXX after paying XXXX as tax and sent it to my bank account. When I tried to send a XXXX USD wire transfer to Crypto.com, I couldn't get the baking address to send it. I checked with Crypto.com app customer service and the representative indicated that they found irregularities and blocked receiving the wire transfer. I tried to discuss further, but they declined to give specifics. I enquired about the short-term platform address for which Crypto.com customer service indicated that they dont have any affiliation and it is a Decentralized app. When I discussed with her the blockage from Cypto.com, she asked me to register with the XXXX platform which I did. On XX/XX/XXXX which was the deadline, when I tried to send the Bitcoin from XXXX to this short-term trading platform, XXXX locked me out stating for new users it is protection and also indicated that the address is malicious. Then I wrote to the customer service of the short-term platform giving the proof of Bitcoin and the blockage by XXXX. The customer service indicated that they extended it to XX/XX/2023. But I realized XXXX was still blocking me from sending the cryptocurrency to this short-term platform address. I decided not to proceed despite the pressure from XXXX XXXX to change the exchange platform to send the tax payment. I checked with short-term platform customer service about my inability to send as I got blocked, but to deduct the 12 % tax payment from the earnings for which they declined and insisted on the tax payment in cryptocurrency before XX/XX/XXXX. They also suggested changing the platform to pay the tax in Cryptocurrency and pay the tax before XXXX XXXX. I reviewed all the above, starting 1st week of XXXX, what is Decentralized app, the short-term platform address being flagged as malicious, and online lookout for XXXX XXXX where there was nothing. The phone number and its XXXX account XXXX are still active and traced to a VOIP number. No address could be found in XXXX XXXX for this phone number. I also searched online using the photographs she shared and they are coming from the XXXX account of XXXX who lives in XXXX, XXXX. I am not sure if XXXX XXXX XXXX is involved or not, but she appeared to be professional in creative and advertisement work. I have the record of my bank wire transfers, the record of navigation through apps with XXXX XXXX for cryptocurrency trades and bets, and the record of discussion with customer service with the short-term wallet. I sincerely require assistance to recover my funds and provide me the protection. 
My email id is XXXX and my phone number is XXXX. My home address is XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation