Canterbury Man Conned for $320,000 in Yet Another Bitcoin Investment Scam
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In yet another story of a Bitcoin scam and why you should think twice before posting your personal details online, a Canterbury man was scammed for a whopping $320,000 in a year-long Bitcoin investment scam. 
Canterbury resident Paul Reeves says that the scam started about a year ago when he came across a Bitcoin dealing website. The company involved offered a great return on a small investment, but after a promising start, the investment started declining, which made Reeves suspicious. He was contacted by the scammers constantly, being asked to invest more so his return could grow. He deposited thousands of dollars, and after about a year, he stopped hearing from the scammers.
The Investments Went Directly Through The Website
Reeves is not the first Bitcoin scam victim. A month ago, a young Finnish millionaire was duped into a Bitcoin scam which stripped him of $35m. The money went to a fake casino investment and the whole process involved a stock exchange investor, scammers, and a group of local Thai banks, all operating together to steal money from the Finnish investor. Reeves’ story is similar, although it didn’t involve cryptocurrency casinos at all.
In the beginning, Reeves was contacted to invest as little as $250 and the company offered an extremely great return. Things were going great at first – the returns were really good and the man thought he struck gold. However, the investment started declining as he deposited more and more money. The scammers were persistent – they asked Reeves to deposit money all the time, which he hesitantly did. The money was deposited directly through the website – there were no bank details at all, even though Reeves asked about it on a few occasions.
After about a year, the scammers broke off all communications. After investing his life savings ($320,000), the man contacted the company for the bank details again, but this time, there was no response.
Police Warn Public After Reeves’ Unfortunate Story
After reporting the case to the police, Canterbury PD has issued a public warning about any suspicious online investments involving Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. As Reeves says, a crypto investment that seems too good to be true probably is. He’s hoping that the scammers will be caught and that at least a portion of his money will be returned.
The New Zealand police say that the scammers usually appear very credible and skilled in their trade. They certainly were in Reeves’ case. The man ended up losing a staggering amount of his life savings, and his story is another reminder of why we should all reconsider cryptocurrency investments before losing it all.
Anyone who thinks they’ve been scammed should report the matter to local police. According to New Zealand police, Kiwis are losing up to $500m. every year to international scammers, and it’s really hurting the country’s economy.
Bitcoin is booming right now so people are open to the idea of investing. There are credible businesses where you can invest, but there are also many scammers using the current hype around cryptocurrencies to steal money from your pockets.
It remains to be seen if Canterbury PD’s warning will ring loud or it’s only a matter of months before we see yet another cryptocurrency investment scam.
