One small withdrawal sold a Cobb County investor on a platform that did not exist

A Cobb County local is getting back the hundreds of thousands of dollars they lost to a fake crypto platform.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office followed the money to a crypto exchange and got a court order to send it back.

The fake platform looked real

The Attorney General’s Office stated that a stranger contacted the victim via social media.

This stranger used the names of mutual acquaintances to create a sense of familiarity before steering the conversation toward a supposedly lucrative crypto trade.

At the time, the platform allowed the victim to withdraw a small amount. This gave enough confidence to continue depositing. Then the account showed fake profits that made the balance look like it was going up.

After the victim had sunk hundreds of thousands, the site reported that everything was gone, and the perpetrator said the investment had disappeared.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation traced much of the victim’s funds to a cryptocurrency exchange.

From there, Carr’s White Collar and Cyber Crime Unit, working with its Investigations Section, secured the court order that forced the exchange to return the assets.

The nonprofit Operation Shamrock, which assists victims of crypto scams, worked the case with GBI.