Rubylaw.com investment scam

Gebson17

I am concerned my friend may have got caught up in a investment scam, possibly and APP scam. where someone contacted them saying they could offer them a job. I'm not 100% on the details, but essentially they have ended up transferring a large amount of money to this company (scammer), through Kraken, which is a cryptocurrency transfer platform. They were promised some kind of dividends, but then more money was requested from them. The person who originally contacted them claimed to be from unity recruitment, and then after accepting the job they have been "investing" through a company, seemingly legitimately pretending to be Rubylaw.com. Firstly I can't find info about this specific scam online anywhere, and secondly has anyone had a similar experience, perhaps with differently named companies, and did anyone manage to recover their funds from the scammers. My understanding is that the UK law protects bank transfers, but the crypto currency side of things is a little bit of a grey area.

eskbanker

Gebson17 said:

My understanding is that the UK law protects bank transfers, but the crypto currency side of things is a little bit of a grey area.

While there are indeed provisions for APP scams, these just cover direct bank transfers from punter's bank to fraudster's bank - if the punter is tricked into buying crypto (in their own name) which is then used to pay the fraudster then that falls outside the reimbursement regime.

From what you say, the whole thing screams scam, so the key thing now is to stop making any more payments as a matter of priority....

Woodstok2000

Gebson17 said:

 the crypto currency side of things is a little bit of a grey area.

That's an understatement - it's like the wild West. You'll get nothing back from the scammers, or from Kraken, but your (friends) bank do have a duty of care. Your friend should highlight this scam to them immediately and talk to them about possible reimbursement if they have failed in that duty.

MeteredOut

Never heard of Rubylaw, but what you describe 100% follows the pattern of a common scam.

As stated above, it will be a challenge for your friend to get their bank to pay for their mistake. Most important thing now is for them to stop throwing good money after bad.  Are they still convinced it is legitimate?

Send them this: https://www.fscs.org.uk/globalassets/pdfs/little-booklet-investment-scams.pdf

sheramber

What job did they accept?

Are they still doing that job?

Ergates

Woodstok2000 said:

Gebson17 said:

 the crypto currency side of things is a little bit of a grey area.

That's an understatement - it's like the wild West. You'll get nothing back from the scammers, or from Kraken, but your (friends) bank do have a duty of care. Your friend should highlight this scam to them immediately and talk to them about possible reimbursement if they have failed in that duty.

Kraken are a legitimate* cryptocurrency trading company, I can't see how the bank could have failed in their duty of care by allowing a customer to use the platform.

This doesn't fit with APP fraud - as the purchase of the crypto currency on Kraken was a legitimate* transaction.  The friend paid their money and got the requested crypto currency.  i.e. the step in which the bank was involved wasn't fraudulent.

The scam was that the friend was then tricked into giving that currency to the scammer in return for nothing.  Which isn't something the bank were involved in - like if you bought amazon vouchers and mailed them to the scammer.  Or you bought a phone and someone stole it.


* as far as that term has *any* meaning when it comes to crypto

sabir27

Hi

I fell for the same scan cost me £6000 can’t believe was so stupid

sabir27

Hi

Has anyone got any money back from kraken or rubylaw. Kraken told me to delete all emails for security. No contact at all from rubylaw but not given anymore. I would rather given into charity than scam. Bank not helpful been with them 20 years