Brits lose £2,500,000 to ‘cryptocurrency pyramid scheme’

Victims of an alleged cryptocurrency pyramid scheme have instructed of the sleepless nights they’ve had after shedding hundreds of kilos, with no hope of getting their a reimbursement.

Many are wracked with guilt after persuading their family members to spend money on Lyfcoin, mistakenly pondering they might have the ability to double their cash in as little as 5 months.

Now a gaggle 14 consumers are pushing authorities to take motion, having collectively misplaced £100,000 between them. They estimate round £2.5million has been misplaced by traders throughout the UK, however Lyfcoin has additionally been bought internationally.

Some emptied their retirement funds pondering they had been onto a winner, whereas others at the moment are in debt to members of the family they bought on board. Victims say police have been too fast to dismiss their complaints as a civil matter, or a ‘enterprise deal gone incorrect’.

However they consider they’ve been scammed, after being bought Lyfcoin at $1.60 every solely to later uncover it was price simply eight cents, the worth of which seems to be from an in-house trade.

Prospects had been instructed that in the event that they invested and held on for 5 months, their cash would double and so they’d be free to money out. However simply because the deadline approached they had been unexpectedly instructed they’d should hold their cash within the scheme for 12 or 24 months, sending many individuals right into a panic.

Even now, customers are unable to purchase items and companies with the cash as they had been led to consider and might’t promote them on an impartial trade like they will with Bitcoin and different professional cryptocurrencies.

A number of customers who’ve spoken to Metro.co.uk say they had been recruited by a person named Sakhi Rezaie, who confirmed them displays, carried out Zoom seminars and invited some folks to his workplace in Birmingham.

Funds for Lyfcoin packages had been despatched on to his financial institution, typically by way of a center man who took a minimize, moderately than to any official Lyfcoin account.

Patrons consider one other three or 4 different ringleaders had been concerned within the UK operation, nevertheless Mr Rezaie insists he was merely an peculiar buyer like anybody else.

Investor Atif Hussain, 38, was laid off from his job as an architectural engineer through the pandemic and is now in debt to members of the family. He instructed Metro.co.uk: ‘I’ve had sleepless nights fascinated about how I’m not going to get my a reimbursement.

‘It’s very, very hectic. The remainder of my household haven’t taken it very effectively. I promised my mum that I’m going to repay her, it’s not honest as a result of I launched her.’

After being launched to Lyfcoin by a neighbour in summer season 2018, Mr Hussain had invested £36,500 by February 2019 – £11,500 for himself, £20,000 for his mum and £5,000 for his brother.

Financial institution transfers and WhatsApp messages, seen by Metro.co.uk, present he made the transfers to instantly Mr Rezai, moderately than to Lyfcoin itself, transferring to an account named MK Brothers LTD.

After promoting a bundle price £12,200 to a piece colleague, who rapidly regretted his choice, Mr Hussain says he tried to get a refund however that Mr Rezai ‘began avoiding me’.

When he confronted him throughout a presentation in February 2019, he was instructed he has ‘nothing to fret about’ and was suggested to maintain his cash within the system to maximise his returns.

Mr Hussain added: ‘I felt that I had been missold the funding and started to suspect that the corporate was fraudulent and was defrauding traders.

‘I turned conscious of others who had dealings with Sakhi and so they too felt that they’ve been defrauded.

‘As Lyfcoin hadn’t gone to trade the worth of $1.60 was fabricated and couldn’t be verified by any trade so in essence was price zero.

‘There was a web site which he referred to referred to as ‘Ether Market’ which he introduced to members concerning the worth and circulation of Lyfcoin which disappeared mid-2019.’

In December final yr, Mr Hussain was invited to a gathering in Coventry with two males named Niraj Mohan and Bharat Kumar, who he understood to be the brand new UK homeowners.

There may be little recognized about who owns Lyfcoin as an entire, the one trace on the web site exhibits an incomplete deal with in Estonia.

Mr Hussain says the homeowners accepted folks had been scammed prior to now underneath the earlier possession and mentioned that present cash they held ‘had been price zero’. Nonetheless Lyfcoin is now buying and selling at eight cents, in line with its web site.

Their findings recommended ‘a lack of expertise amongst investigators and supervisors of necessary assets corresponding to authorised skilled observe and the fraud’.

Mr Hussain added: ‘The people who find themselves alleged to be defending us aren’t placing their cash and assets into this. There’s individuals who actually misplaced their homes and their pensions.’

Whereas there isn’t a suggestion the brand new homeowners of Lyfcoin are performing fraudulently, Mr Hussain says essential elements of a daily cryptocurrency are nonetheless lacking.

He added: ‘The golden rule is that you need to go onto an trade, like with Bitcoin, and you need to have a pockets in your cryptocurrency.

‘For Lyfcoin, there’s no such factor, regardless that the foreign money is price eight cents, it’s price eight cents to who? As a result of you may’t promote it, you may’t commerce with it, you may’t purchase something with it.

‘Initially the one cause I purchased this was they instructed us it was going to be linked with eBay, Amazon.

‘The coin’s solely price one thing if there’s an trade you may promote it on. If there’s no trade you may promote it on it’s truly price zero.’

One other alleged sufferer, who requested to not be named, says she was proven the ropes on a Zoom chat with Mr Rezaie, who reportedly boasted about shopping for a £70,000 Vary Rover together with his earnings.

She invested $2,500 (£1,900), however when she went to money out after 5 months, she was instructed she was locked in for 12 months.

She says Mr Rezaie admitted to the cash being price eight cents when later confronted on the telephone, however that he blamed it on an sudden downturn moderately than the $1.60 worth being fabricated.

She added: ‘I felt like a idiot. I felt fairly silly. I used to be actually shocked at how I used to be fooled, I felt gullible.

‘I’ve undoubtedly learnt a lesson. If it seems to be too good to be true, it in all probability is.’

One other alleged sufferer is a lady in her late 30s who as soon as labored in funding banking.

Her former career made her really feel ‘much more silly’ for being duped and for getting different members of the family to half with their money.

She instructed Metro.co.uk: ‘I don’t know scams don’t get me incorrect however I understand how firms begin up I do know you need to do due diligence, I do know this as a result of I do it.

‘Everybody trusted me. I used to be in monetary markets, that’s why I really feel much more of a idiot.’

She first purchased a bundle price $3,000 (£2,300), however simply because it was about to mature on her account, she determined re-invest.

The Londoner later persuaded her mum to funnel round £13,000 of her retirement fund into the scheme.

She was attributable to repay her mortgage the next yr however now these hopes have been shattered.

The lady added: ‘I instructed my sister, she was very reluctant, I used to be like “Are you mad? It is a as soon as in a lifetime factor’

As she bought increasingly family and friends on board, traders stored on receiving messages to mentioning a ‘massive bulletins’ and ‘new homeowners’.

The lady’s coronary heart sank when she bought a message saying investments would now should be locked in for 24 months.

It’s understood folks got a selection between a 12 or 24 month automated staking system.

The lady added: ‘I instantly went again to him [Mr Rezaie] and mentioned “no no no no no”. I bought this to my mum and my sister and mates as a 5 month factor.’

She says she was instructed a couple of ‘purchase again move’ which might permit folks to promote their cash again, which might be operational in 5 months time.

However she says Mr Rezaie stored on telling her ‘simply wait, simply wait’ after it by no means materialised.

The lady added: ‘I’ve an offended mom and sister, my buddy I used to be doing it for her as a result of she didn’t perceive all the things.

‘I felt horrible. My sister mentioned I’m completely fuming I can’t consider you’ve accomplished this to me.’

When approached by Metro.co.uk, Mr Rezaie mentioned: ‘The corporate has nothing to do with me. I was a traditional buyer the identical as anybody else.

‘Cryptocurrency clearly is a dangerous enterprise, many others are the identical. When you take a look at Bitcoin it’s gone as much as $20,000 from $10,000 then it went all the way down to $3,000.’

When requested if folks may use Lyfcoin to purchase items and companies, Mr Rezaie talked about a scheme permitting folks to make use of it at eating places, however there’s no proof of this getting off the bottom.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Lyfcoin for additional remark.

A West Midlands Police spokesperson instructed Metro.co.uk: ‘We had been investigating a report of suspected fraud involving crypto foreign money which was reported to us in Might this yr. Following enquiries, it was discovered that no offences have been dedicated.’

Mr Hussain has since logged a proper grievance with Skilled Requirements Division.