Australian financial expert ‘Barefoot Investor’ Scott Pape has revealed how he fought crypto scammers who hacked into his identity to con his followers after he reported hundreds of fake Facebook pages using his image to trick people into scams.
Pape decided to engage with the fraudsters and explain their methods instead of waiting on Facebook to take down these groups since this could allow more frauds to spread. He took up a fake name on Facebook and asked for investment advice from the scammers.
Within hours of contacting a fake Facebook page, he was solicited to share his phone number and then offered a chance to join an ‘exclusive’ WhatsApp group called the ‘DB Wealth Institute.’
Pape looked up DB Wealth Institute on Google and quickly sifted through several automated press releases about the ‘investing firm’ and even on Yahoo Finance, Forbes, and LinkedIn.
One press release notes that “DB Wealth Institute, founded in 2011 by Professor Cillian Miller, offers practical financial training and developed ‘AI Financial Navigator 4.0,’ integrating AI with big data to enhance trading strategies. By 2024, it had trained over 30,000 students from more than ten countries.“
Pape added that further research revealed that many US regulators and financial authorities had warned of fake ‘wealth institutes’ trading crypto through WhatsApp. The State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) gave the script of the scammers after receiving many complaints.
Such frauds include a ‘professor’ who provides false trading signals to group members that they can invest their money in and an assistant who communicates with investors. As soon as the group realizes enough money has been gathered, it disappears with the funds, rebrands, and then goes after new victims.
The DFI explains.
The alleged fraud typically starts with an investor being placed into a WhatsApp or Telegram group. The ‘Professor’ and founder of the company provides investment courses such as ‘daily trading signals’ that result in exorbitant rates of return.
DFI
Scammers rely on victims’ desperations after robbing them
Pepe noted that the professor launched a “partner program” categorizing investors and how much they were willing to invest. The investment packages varied from $20,000 to $5 million. He pulled the pin at this point, stating that he understood the script by helping scam victims. The script was similar.
He noted that scammers smell desperation and prey on it without mercy. When you notice you have been robbed, they encourage you to borrow money to help recover your losses. The fact is, the biggest loss happens when you realize you have been scammed.
Cryptocurrency hacks, including scams and exploits, reached $2.2 billion in 2024, an almost 21% increase from $1.8 billion in 2023.
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