Description

I was introduced to this platform (shoplocalis.com) by a friend named Yi Zhang (he had to go to China to handle work, then he told me his dad got cancer, and he has not come back since May) to start dropshipping. It guaranteed a 10% profit on all orders without requiring inventory to be carried. The platform had products that can just be added to the storefront after the account was approved. The store name I used to create a store on the platform was Lunivea. When I got my first order, I found out that I had to pay for the goods for the order to be processed and shipped to the buyer. I asked customer support how to fund the account, and they said only through cryptocurrency because of the recent impacts that happened in the US (this was June 21). I was very hesitant at first because I knew cryptocurrency cannot be reversed as soon as it is sent. But my friend said he has a store on the platform and has been doing it for years. I put in money and fulfilled the order. What was weird was that the orders kept getting larger and larger. The largest order was 200k+, and I had to borrow money from friends and take out more loans to fulfill (my friend helped me send $168k directly to the platform) . I thought it was becoming suspicious, so I asked to close the account and withdraw all the money. Customer service said to close the account, the account must be opened for 1 month, and I kept asking to stop orders because, at the same time, my grandpa was in the hospital. The whole closing process took a long time because they kept asking for more requirements. At first, I contacted support to close, and they said I needed to pay a 10% deposit because I sent crypto using different wallets and basically accused me of money laundering. They said that after paying $30,200 and after 72 hours of review, I can withdraw my money. Yet, after the review, they said that I had brand damage to the platform and asked to pay $20k payment, asked for the friend (Yi Zhang) who invited me to pay 40k. They said that is the last thing needed to withdraw my money. Then, after another review, they said that there was a consumer complaint that must be handled. They said they will contact me with updates. I have not heard any updates from them since the end of August. I tried to reach out to them via email and chat, and no response whatsoever. I have all the chat proof of them asking for more and more requests and money. I noticed in September that they even disabled the account without informing me, and I am not able to log in to view my account balance. I had an account balance of $332199.96. I just want my money I put in back, not asking for more. The longer there are no updates from this business, the more it feels like this is all a scam. Last night, 10/28, I used Incognito to contact customer support, and it says they read the message, then it says the message failed to send. They blocked me and are not giving any of my money back! I have contacted my cryptocurrency company, Coinbase, notified IC3, and will be going to the police station to report. I contacted the Colorado Springs police because the company is registered there, but they called and said I have to contact my local police. The total amount of money I put in is $156,639.78 USDC, and I was only able to withdraw $600 USDT. I have all the emails and chat history with the customer service because the only way to contact them is by email or chat.