We were contacted yesterday by a person who asked us to confirm if they’d been scammed. Unfortunately, they had and the result was they’d lost their pension – in this case about £60,000 to the scammers.

How the scam works

ScamYou will be contacted by a company who claim they’ve traced some Bitcoin (or Ethereum or similar) you’d probably forgotten you owned back to you, and now that Bitcoin has grown and is worth £LOTS.

They will tell you that because it’s been such a long time since the Bitcoin was accessed that it’s become ‘dormant’ and you’ll need to pay them a fee so they can release it back to you on the blockchain.

The email they send you (see below) will appear to be from a well known company such as Blockchain and will contain details relating to that company so you can check them out. The company details are correct, but the person emailing you has nothing to do with the legitimate company, they are just trying to convince you that this whole thing is authentic.

They will try and persuade you to pay £x so they can free the Bitcoin up for you. You will be thinking that once you’ve done this you’ll be able to cash in your Bitcoin and move on. But this is just the beginning. Should you fall for the scam and pay the fee to release the Bitcoin, you’ll find that before it can be released a government tax needs to be paid. If you pay that you’ll find that another event will occur and will have to pay more £… And so it goes on and on.

You will of course NEVER RECEIVE THE BITCOIN, and all the money you’ve been paying to them has just gone straight into their pockets.

Here’s the Scam email

On Thursday, March 31, 2022, 4:52 pm, security department <info@cryptodepartment.net> wrote:

Hello [redacted],

Thank you for your reply.
We are aware of the Market Makers / Scam Activities trying to take advantage out of our Informative Campaign but it can’t stop us doing our job.

The information and the confidential screenshot we provided from our Security Department is an irrefutable proof of the existence of your account in Blockchain System.
As explained, you will not pay any money for our services and the symbolic Positive Transaction should never be considered as “A payment”.
The funds will be added on your total balance in your Blockchain Account and the activation will be instant.
It can take 10 up to 60 minutes for the funds to reach your bank account, it depends on the certified Crypto Platform you will use for the Reactivation Process.
The Blockchain Wallets are universal and they can be activated with every certified Crypto – Platform you feel comfortable with.
If you don’t have the right experience in online transactions, I will call and guide you through the steps trying to avoid any possible mistake.
Thank you in advance !

Kind regards,
Emma Jones
Support-Team Department / BLOCKCHAIN ACCESS UK LTD
Phone number: +44 2045428294
WhatsApp Number: +44 7494 817684
Personal Email: emmajonesBCH@outlook.com
Blockchain Access UK LTD is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority for the issuing of electronic money under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 [FRN 900204].
We are supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority for compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) 2007. Blockchain Access UK LTD is registered in England, New York and Luxembourg (registered no. 902765). Registered Office:
Minshull House 67 Wellington Road North Stockport, Cheshire United Kingdom SK4 2LP

On Monday, March 28, 2022, 11:55 am, security department <info@cryptodepartment.net> wrote:

Dear Ms. [redacted],

This is Emma Jones (FCA Reference number:ELJ00001) from Blockchain Support – Team.

Further to our previous phone conversation, I am sending you below all the details needed.

During this Informative Campaign we are contacting every client that has an account in our system from November 2012 till March 2021.
The accounts that we are contacting on this campaign are accounts whose status is “Dormant ” for different reasons by the Blockchain System.

There are two factors that might have caused the registration of your name in Blockchain:
1- The account may have been created from your Previous Online Trading experiences or any other Online Investment and the funds have been collected in a recovery wallet.
2- In 2011-2016 Bitcoin and Blockchain were everywhere (Commercials, Platforms and all over the Internet) and 30% of our clients registered without even knowing the results. Different platforms and several Online Games used to offer free Bitcoins as a Promotion / Gift which made a great publicity to this Crypto Currency.

Your total available balance in our system is 2.8 BTC and converted to GBP.
The amount in Standard GBP is variable based on the Bitcoin price movement.

Since your account is Frozen and its actual status is “Dormant” , our Department came out with three suggestions :

1- Reactivate your account and Withdraw the Total Amount of money directly to your Bank Account through the “Refunds Department”.
2- Reactivate your account and keep using it for Online Trading where you can withdraw, transfer or do online trading.

To reactivate your account and use your Bitcoins again, you need to show an action into your Blockchain Wallet by placing a symbolic amount of 1% of the total BTC Balance.
Note: The 1% order placed as a Positive Transaction in your wallet, should never be considered as a “Payment” but just a deposit under your details.
The amount that you are transferring in your BTC Wallet, will be placed into your final balance and you can withdraw it as soon as your case will be handed to the Refund Department.
The wallet will be active instantly in real time and one of our Agents will guide you through the steps trying to avoid any possible mistake.

After the reactivation is done you will be guided through the Withdrawal Procedures by the “Refund Department” and you can have the full services of the Blockchain Crypto – Experts.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reply back to this email and also give us your final decision.

Looking forward to hearing from you !
Kind Regards,
Emma Jones
Support-Team Department / BLOCKCHAIN ACCESS UK LTD
Phone number: +44 2045428294
WhatsApp Number: +44 7494 817684
Personal Email: emmajonesBCH@outlook.com
Blockchain Access UK LTD is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority for the issuing of electronic money under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 [FRN 900204].
We are supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority for compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) 2007. Blockchain Access UK LTD is registered in England, New York and Luxembourg (registered no. 902765). Registered Office:
Minshull House 67 Wellington Road North Stockport, Cheshire United Kingdom SK4 2LP

Link: Same scammers try it again