My aunt is not very tech-savvy, but she wanted to learn about investing after hearing so much about crypto. A friend forwarded her a WhatsApp invite to a “private crypto investment group” that offered daily tips, signals, and expert guidance.

She joined, and the group looked convincing. There were daily posts from “admins,” testimonials, screenshots of profits, and even videos of supposed live trades. Members were actively chatting about their gains. Eventually, they started promoting a group investment opportunity—send a minimum of $500 in USDT and get up to 30% returns in a week.

My aunt trusted the group and sent $600. She was told to “watch her dashboard,” and for a few days, everything looked promising. Her investment supposedly grew to $780. But when she requested a withdrawal, she was told to pay a $120 “release fee.”

After paying that, she was ghosted—no response, no refund, and her dashboard stopped loading.

I helped her investigate, and we discovered the entire group was fake. The members were bots or accomplices, and everything was staged to lure victims. We reported the wallet addresses and group to WhatsApp, but the scammers had already moved on.

Please, never send money through private groups without verifying legitimacy, and be especially cautious with WhatsApp-based “investment communities.