Melbourne man devastated after losing $89k to three scam websites

The Melbourne company director fell for the scam not once, not twice, but three times, with chances of recovering the cash virtually non-existent.

Melbourne man loses $89k to fake crypto trading websites Financial Centre, Axe Market and Expro Global

An Aussie man has lost a whopping $89,000 after being tricked into handing his fortune over to cyber criminals.

“I fell for three scams,” he lamented to news.com.au.

Michael*, 49, from Melbourne, thought he was taking charge of his finances but instead he has lost his cash in a sophisticated scheme.

The scam victim runs his own company and had a large amount of money he was looking to invest in July this year.

A “very good friend” of his was trading on an investment website with great success so he decided to give it a go.

But wanting to diversify, “I did my own research, I started looking for other companies” and he poured his funds into two other investment companies.

It turned out all three websites were fake.

Michael said he only realised it was a scam after reading a news.com.au article that “was so similar to me” he could no longer ignore the red flags.

Unfortunately, by then he had recommended the sites to three other people including his cousin, who had all already invested.

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The Financial Centre, which was how his foray into these scams began.

The fake stocks dramatically plunged when the scammers wanted to come up with a reason to take his cash without arousing suspicion.

Michael admits he was sceptical at first but the cyber criminals lured him into their scheme through a slow burn.

“My friend is very astute and diligent in these matters, he’s very careful, he doesn’t fall for these things, I told him it could be a scam,” the Victorian recalled.

“For me (that was) the main factor, that trust factor was how I got into it.”

After his friend’s recommendation, he started “with a small amount” and then added “a bit more money”.

The first website, a cryptocurrency trading platform, was called The Financial Centre and he ended up putting US$30,000 (AU$45,000) into the venture.

He then came across AxeMarket, where he put in US$20,000 (AU$29,000), and then XProGlobal, with another $10,000 (AU$15,000).

The scammers pretended to be funds managers and advisers and texted him directly on WhatsApp and Telegram.

But then the scam came crumbling down.

“I got an email notification saying your balance has fallen below the threshold, you’ve got to put money in,” Michael said.

“By the next morning it was gone.”

This happened to all three of his trading accounts around the same time.

It’s a classic scammer’s tactic to create a sense of urgency and force a victim into making a margin call.

It was at this point Michael accused them of being scam artists.

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XPro Global was the second scam website.

He lost $20,000 in this particular platform.

“When you start trading, the volumes are not high, the returns are not high, small five per cent returns, and because of that you’ll add more money, then they’ll start tempting you with higher profits, then they will say ‘please put in more money, to increase your trading margin’,” Michael explained.

He said the scammers he dealt with understood the market, using technical jargon and also tacking on their investments to real events happening in the market.

“The concepts are correct, things like arbitrage, the volumes he transacts are not unreasonable,” Michael said.

“They are shameless enough to continue asking me for more money for the Black Friday rush – they call it the Santa Claus rally. They’re timing their schemes to actual market trends.”

Axe Market was the third website Michael invested in.

Michael has been left fuming.

Michael’s friend who originally got him into the scam continues to trade on the platform, refusing to believe it’s fake.

“We’re still friends. The sad part is he is still continuing it, he told me he won’t lose anything, he put in about $500. He is wasting his time,” Michael said.

His cousin put $4000 into the fradulent trading websites per his recommendation.

News.com.au previously reported on a Queensland couple who lost $860,000 after investing it in a similar fraudulent crypto platform called Coins Markets, or Coinsmarkets.io.

They have given up on ever recovering their money.

*Name withheld over privacy concerns

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Originally published as Melbourne man devastated after losing $89k to three scam websites