Victim of Cybercrime - recovering funds

NadyaEve

Hello,

I lost my life savings of over £75,000, in a crytocurrency scam between June and August 2021.  I reported it to Action Fraud in September and received a response in December 2021 saying there is insufficient evidence:  "Action Fraud have liaised with the NFIB who say unfortunately, your report did not contain sufficient viability of leads for the NFIB to pass it on to a UK police force for investigation". 

I have names, ID, Facebook profiles, phone numbers, company websites, WhatsApp / Messenger messages, emails, bitcoin wallet addresses and a copy of all transactions.  I'm very aware that names, ID, company websites are pretty much fake, however, they are as much leads as the other evidence.  The scammers are also still contacting me on WhatsApp and messenger, so the fire is still hot!  

Does anyone have any other recommended routes to follow, in order to get my case to the right people to help?  What about companies that help reclaim funds?  I had a call with www.claim-justice.com, but I'm not convinced.

I am prepared to go all out to help catch these criminals and hopefully get all if not some of my money back.  I'll go public, I'll go to court!

Happy to connect with other cybercrime victims

Any advice much appreciated.
Thanks,
Nadya

eskbanker

If NFIB aren't convinced by the quality of the info you mention (much, if not all, is easily faked) then you'd probably be better to forget about catching criminals and concentrating on funds recovery - have you tried your bank?  It sounds like this may fall within the remit of the APP scam code, if the bank is a signatory to that:

https://www.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CRM-Code-LSB-Final-April-2021.pdf

Best steer clear of ambulance-chasers who claim to be able to help you:

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud/fraud-recovery-fraud

Hexane

NadyaEve said:

Happy to connect with other cybercrime victims

cybercrime victims are usually advised against connecting with people who post online offering to connect in the hope of recovering some of their funds, lest that may also be a path to some form of fraud recovery fraud.

Eyeful

If crooks scam anyone out of money, then that persons name and contact details get put on a "suckers list".So the victim can expect more crooks to contact them with a view to milking them dry.

One well known ploy, is for the crooks to contact their victim as a firm who can recover the all of the lost  money.
Of course the money is never recovered. If the target falls for it they end up handing over more money to the crooks in the form of "up front fees" of one sort or another. You can expect more such contacts for some time to come. I think you are unlikely to see your money again.

As for advice:
1. Remember the golden rule: If it looks to good to be true, its because you do not understand the risks involved.
2.  If anyone calls to help you to get your money back or help you invest it, just hang up!
3. Stay away from crypto.



 

lozzy1965

Eyeful said:

If crooks scam anyone out of money, then that persons name and contact details get put on a "suckers list".So the victim can expect more crooks to contact them with a view to milking them dry.

One well known ploy, is for the crooks to contact their victim as a firm who can recover the all of the lost  money.
Of course the money is never recovered. If the target falls for it they end up handing over more money to the crooks in the form of "up front fees" of one sort or another. You can expect more such contacts for some time to come. I think you are unlikely to see your money again.

As for advice:
1. Remember the golden rule: If it looks to good to be true, its because you do not understand the risks involved.
2.  If anyone calls to help you to get your money back or help you invest it, just hang up!
3. Stay away from crypto.



 

1 and 2 yes.  
3. Why would you advise this?
I would add do not invest in anything you don't understand and do not invest in anything off the back of a cold call or email.
If you do not understand crypto stay away from it.  Be very cautious when investing in it as it is not regulated.  If you do understand it do not invest more than you can afford to lose and  do not make crypto a significant part of your investments (less than 5% some would say).
Only invest in crypto through known safe routes.
I agree with other posters on here that to avoid crypto, given its performance, is a blinkered approach to investing.  Although I am not invested (yet) I understand those that are (sensibly) invested in it and their reasons for doing so.

jimjames

lozzy1965 said:

Eyeful said:

If crooks scam anyone out of money, then that persons name and contact details get put on a "suckers list".So the victim can expect more crooks to contact them with a view to milking them dry.

One well known ploy, is for the crooks to contact their victim as a firm who can recover the all of the lost  money.
Of course the money is never recovered. If the target falls for it they end up handing over more money to the crooks in the form of "up front fees" of one sort or another. You can expect more such contacts for some time to come. I think you are unlikely to see your money again.

As for advice:
1. Remember the golden rule: If it looks to good to be true, its because you do not understand the risks involved.
2.  If anyone calls to help you to get your money back or help you invest it, just hang up!
3. Stay away from crypto.



 

1 and 2 yes.  
3. Why would you advise this?

If someone has lost their life savings do you think crypto would be a good investment to use if they recover any money back? I don't and it would seem to be a good recommendation to avoid it.

Malthusian

eskbanker said:

If NFIB aren't convinced by the quality of the info you mention (much, if not all, is easily faked) then you'd probably be better to forget about catching criminals and concentrating on funds recovery - have you tried your bank?  It sounds like this may fall within the remit of the APP scam code, if the bank is a signatory to that:

The mention of "bitcoin wallet addresses and a copy of all transactions" leads me to suspect that the transfer to the scammers was made via crypto. In which case no regulatory protections would apply at all, unfortunately. Welcome to being a sovereign citizen.

If I've assumed wrongly, there could be various avenues open to the OP and more detail would be very useful. Namely:

• Bank transfer: push payment protection
• Debit card: chargeback
• Credit card: section 75 claim
  

eskbanker

Malthusian said:

eskbanker said:

If NFIB aren't convinced by the quality of the info you mention (much, if not all, is easily faked) then you'd probably be better to forget about catching criminals and concentrating on funds recovery - have you tried your bank?  It sounds like this may fall within the remit of the APP scam code, if the bank is a signatory to that:

The mention of "bitcoin wallet addresses and a copy of all transactions" leads me to suspect that the transfer to the scammers was made via crypto. In which case no regulatory protections would apply at all, unfortunately. Welcome to being a sovereign citizen.

If I've assumed wrongly, there could be various avenues open to the OP and more detail would be very useful. Namely:

• Bank transfer: push payment protection
• Debit card: chargeback
• Credit card: section 75 claim

Agreed, my comment was on the assumption that there was an initial bank to bank transfer from OP to an account within the control of the fraudsters (with subsequent crypto transactions being faked), but if OP actually bought real crypto (just let that pass!) as the first step then that would indeed be a different story....

Eyeful

Why stay away from crypto?
 
The OP has just lost their life savings to a scam involving crypto.
Crypto is an unregulated investment.
Unregulated investments are where you find the majority of scams occurring.  

At the end of the day what is crypto? Its just a very long complicated number which has been calculated by a computer. The only way to make a profit from crypto, is to find someone who is willing to pay you more for that number, than you bought it for. 

Its not an asset like gold, which finds use in jewelry, medicine, electronics as well as having a history as a store of wealth. Land can be used to farm and produce food, built on to house people. Raw materials can be turned into products people wish to buy. Knowledge can be used to advance or end mankind. 

Even block chain is an asset in that can keep track of things.

If tomorrow no one whats to buy Bitcoin. All you have is a very long number stored on a computer, that you can do nothing with. 

london21

Be careful with companies claiming to help source your money back.

Depends how the transactions were funded and if the banks would offer any protection.

Crypto is currently unregulated so claiming money back might be extremely difficult.

As others have said stay clear off Crypto going forward.

Thrugelmir

NadyaEve said:

I am prepared to go all out to help catch these criminals and hopefully get all if not some of my money back.  I'll go public, I'll go to court!

Odds on the scammers are living somewhere which is outside the jurisdication of UK law.  No solicitor is going to waste the Courts time.