The Department of Financial Institutions in Washington State (DFI) has issued a warning following a complaint from an investor in the state regarding Fameex, a now defunct platform. The investor, who works as a real estate agent, was contacted by a scammer named “Jackson Qie” through an unsolicited text message. Qie managed to convince the investor to invest more than $113,000 in ether (ETH) and tether (USDT) on the Fameex platform. However, when the investor attempted to withdraw the funds, Fameex demanded excessively high fees totaling over $84,000, but the withdrawals never went through. The investor ended up losing approximately $200,000 and later discovered that Qie’s photos were stolen from various sources. The DFI is advising caution when it comes to unsolicited investment offers. Although the DFI has not yet verified these allegations, the regulatory body stated that this scheme appears to be what is commonly referred to as a “Pig Butchering” scheme and could also potentially be an “Advance Fee Fraud” in various forms.
