Another cryptocurrency trading app may have lost thousands of people their hard-earned savings, it has been reported.
In corporate terms, iEarn Bot told customers their investments would be handled by the artificial intelligence programme, guaranteeing high returns.
But experts who have investigated company, which claims to be based in the US, say it could be one of the biggest crypto scandals to date.
Roxana – not her real name to protect her identity – from Romania, told the BBC she lost hundreds of euros when she invested.
She said: ‘I invested in a bot for one month. You could see in the app how many dollars the app was creating: there were graphics showing how the investment was progressing.
‘It looked quite professional until, at some point, they announced maintenance.
‘Some people started to say “I cannot withdraw… what is happening”. I made the request to withdraw and the money just disappeared.
‘The portfolio became zero. But I was not credited on my wallet with any money.’
Digital currencies have a track record of boom and bust cycles, and with 2022’s fall of Bitcoin, the market is becoming more volatile.
But trading remains popular, with people often promised large rewards over short periods.
What happened to people Romania is also not an isolated incident. Silvia Tabusca, a Romanian organised crime expert from the European Center for Legal Education and Research, began looking into iEarn Bot.
She discovered that many people in other countries had also lost their money in the scheme.
The company claims they have 800,000 customers. After joining, the app works ‘very well’, Ms Tabusca said.
‘When they have enough investors and enough money invested in a specific country, they don’t allow that country to withdraw any more – and they open other countries,’ she added.
Looking at iEarn Bot’s website, there are a number of red flags. On the website, the company does not provide any contact information.
Metro.co.uk attempted to contact the company through its automated messaging feature, but there had been no response.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, alongside companies such as Huawei and Qualcomm, are all named as ‘strategic partners’ of iEarn Bot.
But they told the BBC they have no knowledge of the company and they are not working with it.
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