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Capcoin VIP is a classic example of a pig butchering scam which also plays on the name of a legitimate financial institution.
The person who contacted me about this crypto scam lost in excess of $7,500 after being lured into investing in a fake crypto scheme through a Telegram group.
They were told by their ‘contact’ that Capcoin VIP was connected with BlackRock (the legitimate global investment management company) and that the crypto investment opportunity was secure and offered incredible profits.
The other Telegram group members all seemed to be successfully earning money through the scheme which was enough to convince the victim. Of course, the other ‘investors’ were part of the scam.
He initially deposited $3,500 into the scheme after sending cash to a legitimate crypto exchange before converting it into the USDT stablecoin and sending it on to the scammer’s wallet.
Crypto investment grew rapidly
Soon afterwards he saw his ‘investment’ rocket to nearly $18,000 and at this point he decided he wanted to cash out.
However, as is the case with all these scams, when the victim came to withdraw his money he was told to pay a commission, which he did.
The funds were still not released, and the victim was told he needed to deposit 15% of the overall balance as a ‘service charge’ before the funds could be released, which he also paid.
There followed another demand of 25% for ‘income tax’, which he settled. But when the scammers asked for a further $2,000 for ‘margin money’ he called a halt and broke off contact with the scammers.
How to tell Capcoin Vip is a scam platform
As is often the case with pig butchering scams, the platforms used by the crooks are rudimentary and do not resemble legitimate crypto exchanges at all.
There are many things that give away the Capcoin Vip scam. They include:
- The domain is only a few months old.
- The scammers have deliberately hidden their details from public view when setting up the domain.
- The platform claims to be a ‘world leader’ yet has no online presence.
- There are various reports of the Capcoin VIP being a scam online.
- There are no social media platforms associated with the site.
- The name of the platform and the domain name differ.
- The mobile apps do not exist on official apps stores and are available by direct download only.
- The limited content is full of grammatical errors and the images are scraped from other websites or taken from free picture repositories.
This is just a summary of what’s wrong with Capcoin VIP and make it 100% a scam site, and I’ve written more about how to spot a scam here.
I’ve lost money to a crypto scam – can I get it back?
This is a question I get asked frequently, but unfortunately there’s no easy answer.
The scammers go to great lengths to cover their tracks and stay one step ahead of the law.
This makes them incredibly difficult to track down, let along secure recovery of your lost funds.
However, there are companies that might be able to help. See my feature on crypto recovery experts.
If you suspect a site is fake, get in touch.
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