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