Imagine this: You have made 2 million from cryptocurrency trading and have achieved the first small goal in life. You are now preparing to diversify your risks and look for some reliable investment opportunities.
Just then, your girlfriend's friend comes to your door.
You met in a cryptocurrency group and have known each other for two years. At first, you were just friends, chatting about the market, projects, sharing jokes, and making fun of the absurdity of the market. Gradually, your relationship became different. She would greet you morning and night, send you selfies, talk about her inner thoughts, and say how lonely she was in Beijing, saying that only you made her feel that the world was still a little warm. You fell in love with her unconsciously.
She is in the oil business, owns several gas stations, does cargo ship trade, participates in the Moutai liquor channel, and has 100 million yuan in overseas trusts. Her circle of friends is full of plane tickets and yachts, and she often checks in in different countries. That kind of lifestyle is very attractive to you. She is confident, independent, and even a little strong - you begin to feel that she is not just a girlfriend, but more like someone who is more "capable" than you.
You can't help but sigh that fate is always so kind to you. In this cold cryptocurrency circle, you can also meet a lover who has common topics with you and is willing to go through the bull and bear markets with you.
That day, she told you that there was a cooperation business with Sinopec, short-term capital turnover, and a very high return - 10% profit per month. She said that she only needed a little bit of capital to get it, and she didn't want to tell outsiders, but only wanted you to participate.
You were a little hesitant, but she was very confident, and you had been dating her for a while, you knew her and knew she wasn't the type to ask for money. She didn't formally ask for it, and just said that it would be fine if you were willing to participate in this order, and she wouldn't force you.
If you have 2 million in your hand, there is nothing wrong with taking out 100,000 and giving it a try.
In the next two months, she really transferred the interest as scheduled, 10,000 per month, without any delay. This made you completely let down your guard. You felt that you not only gained love, but also found a business partner you can rely on. You even began to imagine that the two of you could work on projects together, invest together, and make money together in the future, like the "business couple" you envied.
Then, something unexpected happened.
She suddenly told you that the company's account was frozen, and there were still several million yuan in payment on the card. Now the business could not continue, the employees were urging her, and the suppliers were making trouble. It looked like she was about to go wrong. She said that she had already collected most of the money, except for 300,000 yuan, and asked if you could help. She repeatedly emphasized: It's not a loan, it's an emergency, and she will pay you back immediately after the money is unfrozen in two days.
She was depressed and even shed tears, saying that she shouldn't have put all the pressure on her and that she would never speak up if she hadn't been forced into any other situation.
You were stunned. What flashed through your mind was what she had done for you, the gentle tone of your voice when you chatted late at night, and her words "Don't worry, I'm a reliable person" when you received the interest.
You loosen your grip and transfer the money...
Another young person in the cryptocurrency circle was defrauded of 200 million yuan
This is the true story of Big Peach.
However, Da Tao Ge’s savings is not 2 million, but 200 million. The investment he made for his lover is not 100,000, but 10 million and 30 million.
And she is not only not a "girlfriend" but also not a "noble person". Her name is Zhang Bai, she is a "hunter", behind which there is a mature and well-organized "emotional + investment fraud" gang that has been operating for two years. They set up a more meticulous scheme than imagined - from the beautiful and wealthy persona to the fake love relationship, from the fake source of goods, the police notice, to the fake lawyers, fake police, fake companies, fake seizures, and then to the escalating "crisis resolution".
On social media, Da Tao recorded a video of more than 20 minutes, telling his own experience of being deceived word by word. He could have retired before the age of 30 and lived a life of driving supercars and traveling around the world. Now he is left with only a mobile phone and these suffocating memories.
After Da Tao Ge transferred out 30 million to help unfreeze the account, Zhang Bai gave him a Lamborghini Urus, a top-of-the-line model worth more than 4 million, to "thank" him.
He thought it was a return of love, but later he found out that the car was also bought with his own money and the license plate was from her friend's company. This is another clever part of the scam:
Give you some rewards and sweetness - make you think everything is real.
In April 2023, Da Tao wanted to buy a Ferrari 812 GTS. Zhang Bai said that she had connections and could get insider access at a good price. She suggested using a "company of acquaintances" to buy the car and register it, which would be more convenient and less likely to be targeted by the tax authorities. Da Tao did not hesitate to transfer another 7 million yuan for the car.
A few days later, she came to him again and said that because the company was newly registered and did not have enough cash flow, the tax authorities suspected "tax evasion and arbitrage". Now the car payment account was frozen and she needed to re-transfer a sum of money to go through the formal process. Da Taoge chose to trust again. He transferred another 7 million. In the next two months, Zhang Bai took more than 30 million from him on the grounds of "tax investigation", "company joint punishment" and "large fines". By this time, Da Taoge's 100 million had been almost emptied by half. But he continued to trust.
The "games" that followed became more frequent, almost every month.
In October, there was a problem with the mask shipment, which turned out to be a "major fraud case involving epidemic materials." She cried for help, and Da Tao Ge transferred more than 10 million yuan.
In November, a company employee was taken away by the police. Da Tao was mentioned in the transcript, saying that he was a "key figure in money laundering" and that someone had to take the blame. She proposed to spend 10 million to settle the matter, including giving Liu Yuqiao 3 million "compensation" for his imprisonment. Da Tao hesitated but still transferred the money.
In December, "accounts were suddenly checked" all over the country. Credit cards were frozen in the east, and the tax authorities were interviewed in the west. There was a "crisis" every few days, and each time it took hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to "handle" it. The transfer could not keep up with the speed of script updates.
…………
By July 2024, Big Peach has reached the end of his rope.
He sold all his supercars and his bank account was almost empty. He finally came to his senses and sorted out all his past chat records, transfer receipts, and itineraries, and he called the police.
The most ironic thing is that he went to the police station with Zhang Bai. That is to say, when he called the police, he didn't know that the "girlfriend" sitting next to him was actually one of the masterminds of this shocking scam.
Big Peach wasn't the only one who got cheated
The cryptocurrency world has never lacked myths, but it has also never lacked nightmares. You see some people getting rich overnight, but you don’t see more people, some people’s positions going bankrupt, and some people being set up by “love + investment” and having their wealth emptied out…
In recent years, the cryptocurrency circle has already become a "hot commodity".
The cryptocurrency world is too young, too profitable, too mixed and too lonely. It is home to a group of people who want to get rich quickly, have strong emotional fluctuations and have blurred social boundaries. These people are exactly the ideal targets for scammers.
It’s not just Da Taoge who has been deceived. It’s not just the cryptocurrency players who have been deceived.
Some time ago, Daxiangge, a UP host who has been on the "Top 100" list for three consecutive years, publicly recounted in his video a three-year, multi-million-dollar serial scam that he had personally experienced in recent years. At first, he was just pulled into a "catering investment" - the other party was a big boss who ran a high-end restaurant, with connections, financial resources, and pomp, and even let him try food and live, meet friends, and talk about the future. A meal, a car, a luxury house, and seemingly real "proofs" stacked together, in the end he was unprepared to pay 2.4 million.
There is no contract, no agreement, only the words "Don't worry, I will help you make money."
Then he kept increasing the stakes - opening branches, joining the group, and entering large projects, until he had to collect 10 million yuan and bring in six friends. Daxiang not only took out all his savings, but also personally guaranteed it and brought in brothers who trusted him to "give it a try" together.
In the end, as expected, the other party ran away.
The project failed, and Daxiang was burdened with more than 12.49 million yuan in personal and joint debts. He even sold his Maybach and used up all the savings of his parents and grandmother. He still owes relatives 900,000 yuan. He said: "I am not afraid of losing everything, I am afraid of letting down those who believed in me."
You may not be in the cryptocurrency circle, nor have you played contracts, but as long as you have these three characteristics: you have made money quickly, you are eager for greater breakthroughs, and you have believed in someone who "takes you to fly", then you are one of the target groups.
They will show up when you make the most money, discuss strategies with you, and praise your vision; they will chat with you about the market until late at night, saying that they are also lonely, believe in fate, and have stories. They seem to understand you. They even understand you better than you do.
They know how to make up stories, and the background setting is more exciting than the script. They know how to control, giving you a little sweetness every time, and then creating the next crisis. They don't need you to transfer all your funds at once. They just want you to "believe it again" at each node. They set up a psychological warfare.
They are not in a hurry. They can chat with you about the market for half a year, be friends with you for a year, and even accompany you slowly from the bull market to the bear market, and make moves silently.
Brother Da Tao and Brother Da Xiang are undoubtedly the unlucky ones.
But if you have finished reading this story and are still thinking to yourself "I won't be fooled", then please go back to the beginning of the article and read it again from your perspective.
What is really scary is not being cheated, but the confidence you have when you think this will never happen to you. Because without your knowledge, they may have been lurking around you, lying in your WeChat address book, hanging in your Telegram contacts, or even friends you have already met.
They are waiting for you to say the next sentence that exposes your trust or greed, and then a glass of wine, a collaboration, or a sentence like "Brother, I really admire you", and the scammers begin their plot.
