- A Florida-based investor was scammed out of $860,000 after being lured into a fake crypto trading school where early fake profits encouraged him to invest more money.
- The scam involved an Alpha Stock Investment Training platform and a fraudulent exchange called CoinBridge. They both used signal trading and manipulated account balances to make Firestone believe he was earning millions.
A Florida man has become a victim of a crypto scam that cost him $860,000 after enrolling in a trading school that promised him huge returns. The ‘school,’ as he was told, involved fake exchanges and misleading signals, leading him to believe he was making profits while his money was actually being drained.
The incident has shown the growing risks unregulated financial and, more importantly, crypto platforms play in exposing innocent individuals to fraud and financial loss that operate without any form of regulation and accountability.
Florida Man Sues Crypto Trading School Over $860K Scam
Last week, a lawsuit was filed by Brian Firestone, a man from Florida. According to his court filing, he claimed that he lost $860,000 to a crypto scam that involved a Denver-based trading school and exchange platform. According to the details of the filing, Firestone charged Alpha Stock Investment Training Center (ASITC) and CoinBridge as the two partners who carried out the scam.
Firestone explained how he had first met a man named John Smith in December. Smith, who is now recognized as an accomplice. Smith introduced himself as a representative of ASITC and offered to teach Firestone how to trade crypto. To get him started, Smith gave Firestone $500 as a gift, which turned out to be a trap.
One of the red flags of the platform was that it required all users to carry out their trades through CoinBridge, a fake crypto exchange that claimed to have raised $10 million from 600 investors. According to the lawsuit, ASITC used a method called signal trading. Firestone said instructors sent messages with specific trading instructions, and students were expected to follow them exactly.
At first, Firestone’s initial $500 investment got him $55,000, encouraging him to invest more. Later on, he invested another $50,000 in January, causing his balance to get to $2 million within weeks. Excited by the results, he thanked Smith through text, saying he was grateful for the opportunity and thrilled with his success so far.
Things started to take a turn when he noticed that his balance had dropped to $12,000. In a bid to continue making money, he then wired $470,000 in cash and borrowed an additional $330,000 from ASITC to keep trading. After putting in the money, his balance went up to $24.5 million.
However, on March 9, a USDT trade failed to go through, and Firestone quickly messaged Smith, saying, “I can’t close it,” blaming a system issue. Shortly after, his entire balance disappeared.
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