Description

Initially was targeted by ads on instagram, which I assumed was legitimate due to Meta's (Facebook) strict business checks and policies. The person then contacted me and agreed to send a shipment of plant medicinal items that are legal in my state. After a few days of no contact, suddenly was informed of a last minute change of the logistics being handed to Swiftransports.com - which then required my email and phone number. I was skeptical at first, however the sender reassured me they were someone they trusted. After a couple of days, suddenly someone from Swift Transports texted me in large paragraph form, with tons of grammatical and spelling errors, how I needed to pay for the insurance of the item that was to be shipped because the 'sender' marked it as Discrete. This insurance fee was $299, an initial red flag because the item is not worth that amount. This was the start of a set of requests asking to pay them through bitcoin because their payment processor was down and did not accept typical forms of payment (e.g., debit/credit card, apple pay, etc.). In addition, I was provided a 'tracking number' that was linking to their website that showed the progress and steps between each city/state. Every 'stop' between each city/state required some fee + registration, ranging from $799 to $2,000. Before the last payment I paid, I did find a report on here (BBB) for a similar situation and I presented it to the sender as proof that this shipper was likely scamming me. The sender played it off as false reporting and to "Just comply with what they asking for". Thereafter, they had me sign a document where they promised to provide a "100% refund" + $1,000 for my troubles, but needed to setup an account on Cipherpurse.site. The person(s) from Swift continued to text me to create an account on there and then verify with personal identifying information so they could pay me back. After investigating, lots of red flags were presented about this site, so I informed them that I did not want to provide my personal information on this random payment processor. They refused to send back the amount they promised to "100% refund" through bitcoin and took back their initial promise of paying through cash. As of now, the sender and the person(s) at Swift have stopped contacting me. This has been an extremely stressful and financially ruinous situation that I would not wish on anyone. Please trust your gut with working with anyone and protect yourself and families at all cost. Scammers have advanced their techniques, working with other folks who seem to have your best interest, yet are looking to take advantage of innocent working class people.