Qld woman loses $200k in online trading scam

A Queensland woman has revealed how she was duped by an online trading company into losing more than $200,000 in savings meant for her and her daughter’s futures, saying she has “hit rock bottom”.

A woman has lost more than $200,000 to an online trading company scam as new figures reveal $139.5 million has been lost to cryptocurrency scams this year.

In March, Suzanne, saw an advertisement from a cryptocurrency site called Trytrade.com. Over a six-month period, she said she had invested about $230,000 that she got from refinancing her house and taking out her super – a move she claims they encouraged her to do.

She said she thought it was legitimate because she had been given small amounts of money back until they went quiet on her.

It comes as new data revealed victims from 2023 reported losses of $139.5 million in cryptocurrency to Scamwatch as of September 10.

Scamwatch has also since received reports of investment scams perpetrated from TryTrade.com.

Suzanne said since she lost her money, her whole world had been turned upside down.

“I’m feeling absolutely devastated, like I have hit rock bottom,” she said.

A woman was scammed more than $200,000

“They realised they got me a pretty vulnerable time because my dad just went through an open heart surgery and was in the hospital for five weeks.

“You never think it will happen to you but here I am.”

The incident has also affected her daughter.

“I was trying to do it for her future. And my future, I was hoping to set her up,” she said.

“She’s really upset about what’s happening.

“She doesn’t care about the money. She’s just worried about me.”

Suzanne said it was an elaborate plan that she thought was legitimate because she thought a “broker” was doing the trades for her.

“They were showing me the money on the screen and sending me what was supposedly profits,” she said.

“I was always sceptical, but they had good communication nearly every day

“I’d get emails that would say the withdrawal has been processed, and I’d get a confirmation of a deposit.

“I’d get a confirmation of each deposit I made by email.”

Suzanne said the other reason she thought it was real is that over the six-month period they would send her some money back to show her the money was coming in.

But they said they couldn’t send the full amount because of tax charges.

A woman was scammed more than $200,000

“I even got my house refinanced, they showed me that they do a company loan into their to show me how much I will be earning once that other money goes back in and that they will be covering my excess home loan repayments,” she said.

“And I again, I fell for it.”

An ACCC spokeswoman said the National Anti-Scam Centre jointly leads an investment scam fusion cell with ASIC to combat the growing problem.

“TryTrade and its various website iterations is an entity of interest for the fusion cell and has been the subject of disruption efforts by participating organisations,” she said.

“While the website has been removed, consumers should be vigilant as scammers may set up similar websites.

A Queensland Police spokeswoman said they were aware of various online financial investment scams involving cryptocurrency and the Financial and Cyber Crime Group were continuing to investigate serious and organised fraud in Queensland.

“Police urge people to seek professional independent investment and legal advice when investing in schemes of this nature,” she said.

“Potential investors are warned to be wary of the promise of significant returns or guaranteed returns, especially those with time limitations on when they can withdraw, which gives fraudsters a longer period to operate.”