In the r/CryptoScams community, user Appropriate-Yam-1610 shared a story about losing $400,000 in USDC to a sophisticated crypto scam. According to him, a certain Bazia wrote to him on WhatsApp, introducing herself as an employee of a financial center in Manhattan. She lured him to the fake platform Wealth Fims (later renamed ETRDStocks), which mimicked a real investment portal complete with dashboards, KYC checks, and forged SEC documents. The victim transferred money to the specified Ethereum wallets over the course of several months, paying endless taxes and gas fees for withdrawals.

In the comments, users were divided in their opinions. Many harshly criticized the author for his naivety, but according to user ReelNerdyinFl, the main danger now comes from "recovery scammers" who immediately flooded the author's private messages promising to recover the stolen funds for an upfront payment. User Shot-Exit7385 asked about crypto forensic specialists demanding $5,200 upfront and 12.5% of the amount, to which ReelNerdyinFl replied that this is also a 100% scam.

According to user PsychologicalField58 and user Powerful_Aardvark318, they too lost $150,000 and $65,000 respectively in similar long-term schemes where trust was built up over months. According to user sugardustbin, some of the rude comments under the post may be written by the scammers themselves, in order to shame the victim and pressure others into staying silent about their losses. The author of the post himself, a retired military officer and federal employee, has already filed complaints with the FBI, the SEC, and the New York Attorney General and has also compiled a folder of evidence to warn others.