Consumer complaint received 2024-06-16 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Coinbase, Inc.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
To Whom It May Concern, In XXXX, XXXX I opened a Coinbase XXXX financial account through my XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. From XXXX, XXXX through XXXX, XXXX, I deposited $ XXXX in my account. Im a senior citizen and this Coinbase XXXX account holds all of my accumulated wealth from my entire lifetime. From XXXX, XXXX to XXXX, XXXX, I conducted 10 arbitrage XXXX XXXX trades before the XXXX halving event. All 10 arbitrage trades were profitable. The arbitrage trades were under the direct supervision of a subject matter expert who is the aunt of my girlfriend. Coinbase notified me in XXXX, XXXX of a $ XXXX risk fund assessment for Coinbase to conduct audits and reviews of my XXXX trade activities. Coinbase told me that this risk fund assessment would be in addition to the $ XXXX of total assets at that time in my Coinbase XXXX account. Coinbase would not allow me to deduct the $ XXXX risk fund assessment from the $ XXXX of total assets in my Coinbase XXXX account. This assessment was not disclosed to me when I opened my financial account. Reluctantly, I paid the $ XXXX risk fund assessment, bringing the total assets in my Coinbase XXXX account to $ XXXX. Then I attempted to withdraw $ XXXX from my Coinbase XXXX account. Coinbase informs me that my funds can not be withdrawn from my XXXX account until I pay an additional $ XXXX of withdrawal fees to pay for their risk fund assessment audits and reviews. Again, I was not allowed to pay for the $ XXXX of withdrawal fees from the $ XXXX of total assets in my account. Also, the withdrawal fees were not disclosed to me when I opened my Coinbase XXXX account. Reluctantly, I paid an additional $ XXXX of withdrawal fees and Coinbase then deducted these withdrawal fees from my account, leaving $ XXXX of total assets in my XXXX account. I was assured by Coinbase Customer Service in writing that after these withdrawal fees were paid, my account functions would be in a fully restored condition without any further restrictions. To my surprise as I attempt to again withdraw the $ XXXX in my Wallet withdrawal status, Coinbase arbitrarily lowers my credit score from XXXX to XXXX, telling me that Ill need to come up with an additional $ XXXX to bring my XXXX XXXX up to XXXX to fully restore the functionality of my Wallet account. At this point, Coinbase lied to me and deceived me by stating in writing that all Wallet account functions would be fully restored after payment of the withdrawal fees. The credit score fees were not disclosed to me when I opened the Wallet account, Coinbase would not deduct these credit score fees from the $ XXXX of assets in my Wallet account, and now this feels to me like Im in a huge financial scam. Reluctantly, I received written assurance again from Coinbase Customer Service that all Wallet account functions would be fully restored after payment of an additional $ XXXX for these credit score fees and it was again collected from me and then deducted from my Coinbase Wallet account, leaving total assets in my Wallet account at $ XXXX. As I again attempt to withdraw the $ XXXX from my XXXX account withdrawal status, Coinbase tells me that XXXX of my XXXX arbitrage crypto currency trades were deemed to be illegal trades and that I owe Coinbase an additional $ XXXX in penalty fees, 3x the profit that was made on those 2 trades. At this point, I am beside myself. Coinbase has lied to me and deceived me in writing twice now. Again, the penalty fees were not disclosed to me by Coinbase when I initially opened my Wallet account and Coinbase would not allow me to pay for the $ XXXX of penalty fees from the $ XXXX of assets in my Wallet account. I received in writing from Coinbase Customer Service that the other 8 trades were audited and reviewed and that they were not deemed to be illegal trades and that if I pay the $ XXXX of penalty fees that all XXXX account functions would be fully restored. After being lied to and deceived twice by Coinbase Customer Service, I was reluctant to pay the $ XXXX of penalty fees after Ive already paid $ XXXX for the risk fund assessment, the withdrawal fees, and the XXXX XXXX fees. The total amount of these assessments and fees are now at $ XXXX or 20 % of the total assets in my $ XXXX XXXX account. I contacted Coinbase by e-mail XXXX weeks ago using contact @ coinbase.com and help @ coinbase.com and wanted them to verify that my XXXX account has total assets of $ XXXX + the $ XXXX in withdrawal status for a total of $ XXXX and that the URLs that appear in my Coinbase Wallet app. browser history when using my Coinbase Wallet account are legitimate websites and that Im not going through any dex scams when using the Coinbase Wallet app. after reading about these scams as reported on the XXXX social news website. I felt uncomfortable with any further written correspondence from Coinbase Customer Service if the URLs within their website are not legitimate from a Coinbase perspective. I request that all of my Wallet account functions be fully restored and that Coinbase makes me financially whole again. To date, Coinbase has not responded to my e-mail inquiries so I did not pay the $ XXXX of penalty fees within their required timeframe. Coinbase has also threatened me with legal actions due to their determination that 2 of my 10 trades were deemed as being illegal trades. Please help me. 
Regards, XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation