The site that SCAMMED me out of my BTC!! \ stacker news ~bitcoin

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The site that SCAMMED me out of my BTC!!hillstoneglobal.org/

1442 sats \ 15 comments \ @BlokchainB 29 Nov 2023 bitcoin

The recent poll I ran about my blunder of getting scammed wanted me to out the site. So here it is. Hillstone Global!! HSG!!! It used to be .com but they switched to .org

This site is a SCAM do not use!!!

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292 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b 29 Nov 2023

Can you share more details on the nature of the scam?

1872 sats \ 2 replies \ @BlokchainB OP 29 Nov 2023

Here is a rough timeline on how I got suckered into this. (Without the reasons why I decided to take this risk)

I was in search of cash flow to meet certain fiat obligations
A random person on telegram started to message me. Confirmed they weren’t a bot or scammer by verifying their identity
This person suggested I use HSG and another site to earn a return as they had success
I put a little in both sites during the fall of 2022.
The other site kept waiting more deposit before withdrawing. I stopped and the losses were minor
Meanwhile HSG paid me out in December 2022 and never requested more deposits
In the start of 2023 HSG stated no more withdrawals until April 2023 as they were having tax issues with the IRS unless you were part of their top tier investment threshold
Added funds to become top tier
HSG wanted a fee to pay the IRS. Once fee was paid they would process withdrawal
Once that wasn’t paid charged another fee to pay via Bitcoin. Paid that fee no withdrawal processed
HSG wanted another fee to send out debit cards to process withdrawals. Paid that fee in late August
Debit card never came and it appears they all but disappeared. Site login still works but no response from the live chat customer service.

This is just a really brief synopsis of how this unfolded. I am leaving a lot out but that should give you an idea of the scam and how a little bit of BTC ended up being a lot.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @xmrk2 29 Nov 2023

The saddest thing is that this "advance fee scam" was described 1000 times before. For example: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/103891/is-it-normal-to-be-asked-for-an-advance-fee-on-a-withdrawal . Although on second reading of your post, they tried to obfuscate a bit with top-tier thing. Still, why would you pay the tax to someone else than IRS (and Darthcoin wouldn't pay even them :))?

The scam possibly hasn't ended yet: someone may contact you promising to recover your money. For a small fee, paid in advance, of course. Please don't fall for it.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BlokchainB OP 30 Nov 2023

Yeah I knew it was stupid paying the “fee” but the amount I already put in I wanted to get back

397 sats \ 1 reply \ @5centvalentine 29 Nov 2023

Sorry to hear you were the victim of this scam of that company. My rule of thumb for vetting any company in regards to anything finance related (that are not huge or well known financial companies):

Find the testimonials page/portion of the site (most scams will have them and they try to seem legitimate by adding photos of the person giving testimonial)
Right-click the photo of any person listed and search google. This usually turns up a stock image or stolen social media profile pic.

If no photos in testimonials, run the same search on any photos on the company's site. It will usually flush out the non-sense as well.

ps - I would encourage you to file a complaint with I3 (https://www.ic3.gov/) if in the USA

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @BlokchainB OP 29 Nov 2023

Thanks for the advice. But I am not going to report it. Just want to warn the masses and to prevent others from getting suckered into one of these sites

294 sats \ 2 replies \ @fm 29 Nov 2023

Never seek returns on stacking bitcoin..
Specially if the amount of return is good.
Its always a scam.
Not your keys..

2 sats \ 1 reply \ @BlokchainB OP 29 Nov 2023

Yeah I got duped because they did pay out. But as things went on it just got worse and worse. Thing is I didn’t need to do this but just got to greedy

291 sats \ 0 replies \ @fm 30 Nov 2023

Oh, the best scams always pay the first ones to make you put more money in it.. Its a classic

293 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 29 Nov 2023

Good shame them!
hey @k00b maybe we could have a dedicated section on SN where stackers can post scam stories...
As a warning to others.