I started trading with this company in June, 2019. Over 5 months, I spoke regularly with my account manager, Max Bauer. I first deposited $2,000 in bitcoin through my Coinbase account. There were a few hundred dollars in commissions and fees, which Max promised would be reimbursed.
Over the next several months, he made many trades that looked profitable on paper, and I also qualified for a few bonuses that were promised when I signed up. In July, while on an Anydesk conference call, Max made an error and created an overdraft in my Coinbase account.
I had to cancel this with my bank, and incurred more fees. Max's mistake left my Coinbase account with a $78 overdraft which he promised he would pay, but never did. I tried to cover it myself, but the Coinbase system wouldn't process my attempts to fund it. They finally cancelled my account, forgave the overdraft, and opened a new account for me, which is still open today, but with no money in it.
In August Max offered more incentive for additional funding, so in August I sent a $1,600 wire transfer to his account with the Bank of China, in Hong Kong. I live on a fixed income, and borrowed the money to put into this investment firm.
My wife died in 2018, I lost her social security benefits, and made it clear to Max that I would need a steady income of at least $800 a month, starting in October. He explained that he was very busy, but would help me learn the cryptocrrency trading platforms so that in time, I could continue to trade profitably myself, as he had been doing all along.
In September, I started making small withdrawal requests from Tradenix. These were ignored. When I called to question this, I was told that I hadn't properly verified my identity by providing utility bills, photos of debit cards, and deposit declaration documents they had provided me their own forms to do. I supplied everything several times, but they kept telling me they didn't have it on file.
Over the course of the summer and early fall, Tradenix changed the design and layout of their website and trading platforms several times, and I wasn't always able to keep a record of my trading actvity– each new revision made it difficult and finally impossible to access my account activity or trading history. Max told me not to worry, he would request the financial department to make this information available to me.
The problems began on October 24. When I emailed Max to call me, he told me sorry, he made a bad trade, and my account balance was now $3.74. Sorry man, that's the inherent risk in trading this kind of equity……
I was able to make a printout of those last few days of activity, before online access to my Tradenix account was blocked. When I called, I got put on endless hold with some awful electronic music, then the line would ring busy after about five minutes.
I've sent emails and called regularly since then, and my calls don't go thorough. Emails are never answered.
In November, I started getting calls from individuals identifying themselves as Tradenix representatives. They tell me that they can recover the money I lost, by paying up front a percentage of the amount they stole from me.
Every time, when I tell them I'm not going to throw good money after bad, they hang up on me. They call from blocked numbers, but my phone system is able to trace the calls, and when I dial back, I get put onto the same endless musical hold that picks up when I dial their toll free number myself…….
In addition, I've been getting hangup calls, and breather calls, from these same New York exchanges the scammers have been calling from to try to get more money from me.