The Trezor Trust crypto investment scam is a sophisticated scheme whereby victims are sucked into investing ever increasing sums before being conned into paying exorbitant – and completely fictious – additional fees.
In 2022 the scammers have used two versions of Trezor Trust website, with one being shut down earlier in the year and one still operating.
The victims of the Trezor Trust investment scam are told they can realise huge profits on their investment by directing money through their bank into a crypto exchange before sending funds via cryptocurrency to the scammers account.
Trezor Trust scam victim lost more than £250,000
The person I spoke to about this scam has lost in excess of £250,000 ($300,000). They were in regular contact with several members of the scam group, who each performed different roles as the fraud progressed.
At first they only invested a small amount, but very quickly upped the sum that they put into the fraudulent investment scheme to over £100,000 ($120,000), drawn in by the soaring ‘profits’ that had appeared in their account.
However, as is often the case with these type of scams, things started to go wrong when they tried to get their money out of their account which at the time had allegedly soared to around £400,000 ($500,000).
Scammers demand broker’s fee and Capital Gains Tax
The scammers used the person’s desperation to claim that broker’s fee had to be paid before their funds would be released. This initial sum was in the region of £60,000 ($72,500).
Unsurprisingly, their funds were not returned to them at this point. The scammers then claimed that the person needed to pay a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) charge in excess of £50,000 ($60,000), which they duly did.
It’s important to point out here that in the UK CGT is always paid directly to HMRC. It is never paid to private companies or anyone else for that matter.
Then, the scammers demanded ‘gas fees’ on the fake Bitcoin (BTC) transactions they claimed to be making in the process of returning the person’s money. Gas fees are paid on the Ethereum blockchain, not Bitcoin, and wouldn’t be anywhere remotely close to what the scammers were claiming, even if it was an Ether (ETH) transaction.
The scammers went on to demand further amounts which added up to tens of thousands of pounds, which the person also paid.
They never received a penny of their funds and were cleared out of all their savings by the scammers, who at one point even suggested they ask a family member to re-mortgage their home to pay additional fees.
During the whole process the scammers used several fictitious company names and addresses, together with both landline and mobile phone numbers. They also claimed to have multiple offices around the world.
Is Trezor Trust a scam?
Yes. Trezor Trust is an elaborate crypto scam designed to steal as much money from unsuspecting investors who perhaps do not fully understand how cryptocurrency or investing works.
Here are some of the ways you can tell Trezor Trust is a scam:
- The domain name is very new, and the registrant’s details have been deliberately hidden.
- Trezor Trust claims to have physical addresses across the globe, yet the one in the UK is a PO Box with no company located there.
- While a company name connected with the scammers does exist on the Companies House register, the details are clearly fake. The UK Government is planning a crackdown on fake companies being registered, which can be done by anyone for a small fee with very few checks being made.
- The site is grammatically poor throughout. Additionally, many of the links simply lead to random posts on sites such as Wikipedia and YouTube.
- No legitimate company would charge the broker’s fees involved or demand them as an additional payment.
- As I’ve already said, Capital Gains Tax would be paid directly to HMRC – the UK Government’s tax office – in the event of a taxable gain in excess of your annual personal allowance (currently £12,300).
- I’ve also mentioned this as well, but you wouldn’t pay ‘gas fees’ on a Bitcoin transaction. You would pay miner’s fees, and they wouldn’t be anywhere near the tens of thousands of pounds the scammers demanded.
- There are multiple reports online about Trezor Trust being a scam. Properly researching a company before you transact with it is crucial in all circumstances.
- Trezor is the name of a legitimate cryptocurrency wallet producer. The scammers are playing on the high standing of the brand to try to convince victims they’re legitimate.
- The scammers claimed to have provided the victim with a Bitcoin wallet on a legitimate platform, and supplied them with the 12-word recovery phrase. Everything about this is wrong, plus the recovery phrase should never be disclosed to anyone as this will give them access to your coins. In this instance, the wallet didn’t even exist.
Can I get my money back from the Trezor Trust crypto scam?
It can be very hard to recover any of your crypto or cash from scammers as they use sophisticated methods to cover their tracks, including crypto exchanges that don’t require any Anti-Money Laundering information, such as a passport of driving licence, to use.
There are Bitcoin and crypto scam recovery companies and experts that work to help people trace their stolen coins, but they often only work with victims who’ve lost a significant amount of money.
You should always report a scam to the authorities in your country and use online forums to make other people aware of what’s happened to help them avoid becoming a victim too.
See the links below for more information about what to do if you’ve been taken in by a cryptocurrency or Bitcoin scam, and some of the companies working in the sector who may be able to help you.
If you suspect a site is fake, get in touch and I’ll take a look.
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