cryptocurrency scams

srp5

hi can anybody advise about using a no win no fee solicitor to recoup monies lost through cyber crime/bitcoin scammers.

born_again

Well unless the (scammers) are based in UK. Got to be a waste of time.

lincroft1710

No win, no fee is a misnomer. There is always a fee, If your claim is successful, the other side will usually pay. If unsuccessful the insurance policy you had to take out (at the solicitors' insistence) should cover the fee.


As @born_again says unless the scammers are UK based (and you have a proper postal address, a box number is useless), you would be wasting your time even thinking about it

clarkyson

srp5 said:

hi can anybody advise about using a no win no fee solicitor to recoup monies lost through cyber crime/bitcoin scammers.

Fee will be there, after they help you to recoup your money

Exodi

My short response: give up, the money is gone.

My long response:

If you're somewhat experienced with Crypto, you could do some blockchain analysis and see where the funds ultimately ended up going. Usually this is through an exchange where the funds can be converted to fiat currency.

It's important because, in complete contrast to traditional banking, if the funds are still in the wallet, the holder remains effectively anonymous and funds effectively irretrievable. If the funds have gone through an Exchange (effectively withdrawn), to comply with AML regulations, the Exchange requires and holds KYC information.

Exchanges don't just respond to anyone's KYC request (they have a responsibility towards their customers also), but will usually comply with requests by law enforcement agencies.

Let's say hypothetically, the funds have passed through an Exchange and you're able to work with law enforcement to enforce a KYC request on the Exchange (which I cynically doubt many police would bother with unless we're talking significant 6 figure sums of cash), and they provided that Mr John Smith from 1 Scammers Lane, Scamton, SC4 MM3R was the account holder (which again I cynically doubt as the majority of scams originate from overseas so would need to be enforced by foreign law enforcement). Let's say the police arrive and, despite the odds, it's not a money muel (which is very common for organised crime) and manage to catch the scammer red-handed... as with all crimes of this nature, you're reliant on them still having the funds to give you (many end up reaching mickey mouse agreements in court of £1 a month ad infinitum).

In reality you probably won't get out the starting blocks as the police won't bother filing a KYC, or you'll end up with a permanently open case filed with the NPF-NCCC against some random guy in Lagos.

Whenever I hear these radio ads of solicitors promising to retrieve your funds, I can only imagine in reality they know it's very unlikely, but bank on being paid their fees via insurance policies. Despite what they'd have you believe, it's not easy. There's a reason cyber-criminals favour cryptocurrencies.