In the r/CryptoScams community, a user with the nickname Ok-War-1134 shared a sad experience of encountering a classic fraud scheme known as the "pig butchering scam". The story began with a random message from a stranger who moved the conversation to Telegram. She allegedly transferred large sums to the victim—$70,000 and $50,000—and "helped" grow the capital to $900,000. However, when Ok-War-1134 tried to withdraw the funds to Coinbase, the platform demanded a deposit of 15% of the withdrawal amount (about $135,136) for a period of 7 days. As revealed in the comments, the victim's actual personal loss amounted to $45,000.

According to user yarevande, the scammers used a well-known brand impersonation tactic. The real investment company StoneX has an official website, stonex.com, is licensed by the US SEC, and does not offer individual cryptocurrency trading. The victim, however, downloaded the app from the Stonezg website. The scammers domain was originally registered back in 2014 but was updated in May of this year. According to the same user yarevande, a check via the Internet Archive showed that until 2024, the site hosted Chinese text, after which the domain was turned into a fake trading platform.

According to user LavaPoppyJax, all the "profits" on the screen were just numbers, and the invested funds had already gone irretrievably to the scammers. The community's auto-moderator confirms the main rule: legitimate platforms never require upfront payments or the payment of "taxes" to withdraw your own funds. Fees are always deducted from the withdrawn amount, rather than requiring additional transfers.

The situation serves as a stark reminder: no one on the internet will help complete strangers make huge amounts of money for free, and cryptocurrency trading should only be conducted through reputable exchanges.