The Fake Investment Trip: A Visit Gone Sour
Melbourne, AustraliaSun Dec 08 2024
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An Australian woman, let's call her Roxy, fell prey to a sophisticated online scam that left her over $1 million poorer. The twist? She met one of the con artists on a trip to China. Roxy runs a business helping people with Chinese immigration and education. One day, a man named Wei Chen contacted her out of nowhere. They bonded over their shared history in Australia and soon, Wei Chen told Roxy about a lucrative trading platform called SpreadEx. Roxy, trusting him, started investing heavily.
Little did she know, she was investing in a fake clone of the real SpreadEx. Months later, warnings were issued, but Roxy had already lost her savings and borrowed more from friends. When she met Wei Chen in China to hand over cash, she thought she was meeting a mentor, not a criminal. Her account was eventually frozen, and she was slapped with penalties. Realizing she was scammed, Roxy alerted the police. Now, she and her husband face a long road to repay debts and rebuild their future.