Investors in iEarn Bot, a cryptocurrency trading app, are believed to have lost their savings, potentially making it one of the most significant cryptocurrency scams to date. While cryptocurrency trading has gained popularity, law enforcement agencies caution against an increasing number of scams and urge investors to conduct proper research.
Roxana, a Romanian citizen, lost hundreds of euros in the iEarn Bot cryptocurrency trading app. Customers were promised high returns through the company’s artificial intelligence programme.
Withdrawals from the app were frozen for some time after the announcement of maintenance, leading to customers losing their investments. Roxana requested anonymity as she fears damage to her professional reputation.
According to experts, iEarn Bot could be one of the biggest crypto scandals so far, as thousands of people around the world, including high-profile individuals in Romania, invested and lost their savings.
They were promised high returns by the company’s AI program, but when they tried to withdraw their funds, they discovered that the money had disappeared.
Some were attracted to the scheme due to the endorsement of a leading IT expert, Gabriel Garais. The scale of the iEarn Bot operation has surprised even organized crime experts who have investigated the case.
Silvia Tabusca, an organized crime expert, discovered that many people in other countries lost money in iEarn Bot scheme. She found that the scale of the operation was surprising.
According to Tabusca, the number of investors was quite high, and in Indonesia, for instance, iEarn Bot claimed that it had 800,000 customers. She explained that the app works well initially.
However, when the company has enough investors and money invested in a specific country, they don’t allow that country to withdraw anymore and instead open other countries.
However, when the BBC fact-checked some information on its website, it raised some red flags. The man who the site named as the company’s founder denied any association with them and made a complaint to the police.
iEarn Bot lists MIT, Huawei, and Qualcomm as “strategic partners,” but they deny any knowledge of the company. The company does not offer any contact information on its website and its Facebook page previously advertised weight-loss products. The app heavily encourages investors to bring in new users.
According to Ms Tabusca, “The way people in this company operate is more similar to a Ponzi scheme than an actual business.” The BBC has viewed chat conversations where individuals who identified themselves as iEarn Bot customer service representatives told investors they must pay a 30% fee to withdraw their funds.
Some investors paid the fee out of desperation but were still unable to withdraw their money. The BBC has made multiple attempts to contact iEarn Bot for comment, but has yet to receive a response.
