In July 2024, I was contacted by a woman named "Yumi Lee" (also known as "Eva") on WhatsApp. At first, I ignored her, but she persistently messaged, claiming she wanted to get to know me. Eventually, she presented herself as a crypto educator working with her “aunt” and offered to guide me in the crypto world. She claimed to be from Singapore, based in New York, and involved in modeling, fashion, and running a wedding dress business. Her WhatsApp number was 646-296-2878.
She explaining that she and her aunt had a crypto analysis team and were using Crypto.com for operations. we had a video call, and she appeared professional, which made me believe she might be legitimate. As the weeks went by, she shared more personal details about her life, and I discovered her modeling Instagram account under “manyo_yoojin,” confirming she was the same person.
She then began more romantic conversations, which raised suspicion, but I proceeded cautiously. She walked me through setting up accounts on Crypto.com and Crypto.com Wallet, where I passed ID verification and set up security measures (passwords, two-factor authentication, passcodes, etc.). She advised me to start slowly, and I made an initial investment of $3,000. She introduced me to “CXM Direct,” a platform within Crypto.com’s DeFi wallet offering AI-based arbitrage trading with daily interest rates of 1.1%-2%.
Following her guidance, I transferred money from my Bank of America account to Crypto.com, bought ETH, and transferred it to the Crypto.com DeFi wallet. From there, I accessed the CXM Direct brokerage, where my balance remained in the DeFi wallet but was managed by the brokerage’s system. The AI arbitrage income started adding daily interest, and I increased my investment. At one point, I invested $254,700, which grew to about 1.3 million USDT, with daily deposits continuing.
She also helped by transferring ETH from her wallet to mine when I was short on amounts like $1,500 USDT and $4,500 USDT. By July 30, 2024, I received a large 50% profit settlement, but soon after, I was notified that my account was "temporarily restricted” due to "illegal anomalies" detected in the system. I contacted customer service, and they asked me to verify my ID again.
They demanded I pay 20% of my balance—around $236K—within 20 days to verify liquidity, or I would lose everything, I had previously withdrawn 700 USDT with no issues, which seemed like part of a trust-building process. However, their explanation became nonsensical, citing “relevant provisions of the order Act,” confirming my suspicion of being scammed. Through a law firm from a friend, I discovered the scammers held about 917 ETH, worth around $8 million, in their wallet, but the firm couldn’t take my case. I learned my funds were in a private wallet connected to US-based companies.
IMPORTANT: I'm still maintaining some contact with this person in case we can run another transaction to get the latest wallet information and their IP.