Consumer complaint received 2022-11-28
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Coinbase, Inc. (IL)

On XX/XX/XXXX I was solicited online for an investment training program for building wealth. I learned about the program previously through social media outlets through which I was familiar. I was directed to establish an account via XXXX to submit bi-weekly payments and to have a portion of the payments invested. I established an account with XXXX and submitted payments via this channel using Bitcoin from my Coinbase account. I began making payments to XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX and continued through XX/XX/XXXX using my personal XXXX XXXX Checking Account to transfer funds to Coinbase and then to the XXXX  bitcoin address provided to me by XXXX. The XXXX platform reflected my payments and showed a portion of the payments that were being invested and their current earnings. My XXXX account balance as of XX/XX/XXXX was {$170000.00} when I requested to proceed with a withdrawal from the investment account. I never received any prompts or security concerns from Coinbase despite the financial value of the transactions. I was instructed in order to receive my investment funds I had to pay additional fees on top of the bi-weekly payments I was already making. There were two wire transfers completed from XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX in the amount of {$25000.00} dollars sent to Coinbase between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX I was told that there were multiple errors and upgrades that my account needed in order to proceed with the withdrawals and overcome the errors which were due to such a large dollar amount being transferred. These communications came from the XXXX  via email. I paid the additional fees to upgrade my account and still the withdrawal transactions failed to both my Coinbase and XXXX accounts. After multiple exchanges via email, I was instructed to pursue a bank wire transfer to receive my funds. At this time an additional {$2500.00} was requested by the XXXX platform to carry out this transaction. Personally, I invested more than {$78000.00} from XX/XX/XXXX thru XX/XX/XXXX. After not receiving the funds I tried to contact a representative via phone and I could not contact anyone. It was at this time I realized I had been scammed. Currently, my XXXX account still shows a balance which reflects the additional fees submitted above with balance XXXX. There was one attempt by XXXX to submit a deposit into my Coinbase account, however the amount was negligible. This transaction occurred between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. I made efforts to file complaints and claims with XXXX XXXX and Coinbase to recuperate the funds I had lost. Several high ranking employees of XXXX XXXX XXXX and Customer Service Department stated that since Coinbase was the merchant of the Bitcoin transactions, that they hold the authority to settle this dispute. In terms of Coinbase, I have received no investigation or formal response into the matter. I have filed complaints with the XXXX Police Department, FBI XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX, Coinbase, XXXX XXXX, XXXX and several other regulatory bodies. Of note, Coinbase has also inactivated my account online so I have not been able to communicate or conduct any transactions with their platform since the incident.