I’ve been involved in crypto for a while and thought I knew all the red flags to look out for, but I still fell for a fake crypto lending platform. I’m sharing my story to help others avoid the same mistake because these scams are getting more sophisticated.

I stumbled across this platform through a discussion in a crypto forum. It advertised itself as a peer-to-peer lending network where you could lend your crypto to others and earn interest. The returns they were offering were higher than most other platforms, which should have been my first warning. But the website looked legitimate, with professional branding and real-time charts of their so-called lending volumes.

I decided to give it a try and deposited around $1,500 worth of Ethereum into their platform. The next few days went smoothly, and I could see my balance growing as interest accumulated. I even received emails about how my crypto was being lent out to verified users. But then, when I tried to withdraw, I hit a roadblock. The site suddenly claimed my account had been flagged for “security reasons” and that I needed to pay an additional fee to unlock it. I was skeptical but still sent the $200 they asked for, hoping that would resolve the issue.

Of course, it didn’t. After the fee was paid, they completely locked me out of my account, and customer service stopped responding. I tried to recover my funds, but it was too late. The platform vanished, along with my money.