10

I have invested in a company called thomastradingservices (link removed) and got profit. Now to withdraw they say I need to buy bitcoin worth 20% of the profit and send it to their wallet to receive the withdraw to my wallet. Does anyone know this company and is it trustworthy? I feel like I lost my investment and if I go through with this I would lose a ton of more money.

UPDATE 03-16-2021 This is the guy i am in contact with https://brokercheck.finra.org/individual/summary/3174210#timelineSection

Improve this question
8
  • 10
    This website claims they are a UK registered company number 11712123 . But Companies House thinks that that registration number belongs to a quite different, dissolved, company: find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/… . This is not an organisation that I personally would send any money to, ever.
    – AakashM
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 10:23
  • 2
    Why did you invest in this company? Have you been contacted by them?
    – Uwe Ziegenhagen
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 11:50
  • 10
    If a company is able to turn $50,000 into $350,000 through legitimate investing in a matter of 10 days then they have no need for your money. They are "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and so far you are Peter and they have no intention of ever paying Paul.
    – MonkeyZeus
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 12:20
  • 2
    @AakashM IN the UK it is a common scam for somebody to create a registered company in order to get an (official looking and originally legitimate) registration number to use for advertising purposes, and then fail to comply with any of the requirements to file accounts, etc. Companies House will automatically strike off the company for non-compliance, but the scammers will continue to use the old registration number to make themselves look legitimate.
    – alephzero
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 13:23
  • 1
    If they mention cryptocurrency in any way, it should be regarded as "presumptively a scam until proven innocent." While there are theoretically legitimate uses for crypto, in practice virtually the only things people actually do with it are crimes and scams.
    – Mason Wheeler
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 16:31

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
33

This has all the red flags of a scam.
(1) You shouldn't have to pay money to withdraw money from your account.
(2) it is extremely uncommon and suspicious to ask for fees in bitcoin, a completely irreversible transaction that hides their identity.

I'm pretty sure your money is long gone. Chalk it up as a life lesson and move on.

Update: I looked at their website and they seem to be VERY focused on crypto, so the bitcoin thing might not be as much of a red flag. But it says in black and white on their FAQ "No, there are no fees for withdrawal."

Their site seems very fishy. Especially the part where their FAQ prominently asks the question "Is this legal" and gives a hand wavy answer.

Improve this answer
8
  • 6
    Man, that sounds shady as hell. I'd stop dealing with them and never look back.
    – JohnFx ♦
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 1:20
  • 3
    Cryptocurrency is apparently real currency, except apparently when it's called fees.
    – Gregory Currie
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 8:32
  • 4
    It says at the bottom of the page 1 btc = 9000 USD lol
    – Mehdi
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 9:30
  • 13
    {sarcasm} I'm pretty sure they are a legitimate business. I mean they tell you that right on the front-page: thomastradingservices.com- a United Kingdom-based company is a legitimate business. {/sarcasm}
    – s1lv3r
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 12:41
  • 4
    "I looked at their website and they seem to be VERY focused on crypto, so the bitcoin thing might not be as much of a red flag." - I beg to differ. You're basically saying that a Transunion investment firm can be trusted if they only accept payment via money order. I think you should remove that bit because it could cause future readers to let their guard down.
    – MonkeyZeus
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 13:48
16

I don’t know anything about them, but any organization which claims to require payment of funds before allowing withdraw of funds is quite obviously a scam.

Assuming that a 20% withdraw fee was required, a legitimate company would simply issue you a check (or Bitcoin) in the amount of your current balance - 20%.

There are two reasons to require payment for withdraw, to get one last bit of money out of the victim and to keep the victim from realizing they are a victim as long as possible by making them reluctant (or even unable) to make a withdraw.

Improve this answer
5

It's a scam. Here are some basic checks you can do:

  • Check an official record if you can. In the UK we have a Companies House. Company with id 11712123 is a different company and it is dissolved.

  • Check whois record. OK, Panama, NameCheap, Inc - doesn't sounds reliable

  • The website shows last 10 deposits in the source code with the names. No reputable company will do this:

    .

Improve this answer
5
  • 2
    "Check whois record. ..., NameCheap, Inc - doesn't sounds reliable" - What's wrong with NameCheap? - "The website shows last 10 deposits in the source code with the names. No reputable company will do this" - Those look fabricated to me (which makes me wonder if OP is trolling). Doesn't affect your point much though.
    – marcelm
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 13:38
  • It's not just in the source code. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see it as content.
    – MonkeyZeus
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 13:53
  • 2
    Yeah, I suspect OP is trolling. IMHO, a reputable investment company won't buy its domain from NameCheap, purely for reputational concerns. Panama is known for its tax heaven laws, so it's possible that many financial companies are registered there. But, IMHO, it's a different thing between tax and domain registration.
    – oleksii
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 13:53
  • 2
    Note that OP's chosen StackExchange name is Ivar which is the name seen in the page source and bottom content.
    – Ross Presser
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 21:19
  • Yes that true this is the guy i am in contact with brokercheck.finra.org/individual/summary/…
    – Ivar
    Commented Mar 16, 2021 at 0:08

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .