I read a story, on this very forum, of a Pakistani Guy, who was picked up by authorities for trading in crypto. I also had gone through such a time where i almost landed in trouble. So let me share my story so that you guys can avoid such mistakes.
Note: Pakistan, don't allows banks to do crypto related transactions, so its P2P.
It was around August 2020, i posted buying/selling ads on a few trading exchanges. And in that i also posted my contact Number(mistake 1). A person(probably Nigerian) contacted me from an international number using watsapp on my cell and asked me that he wanted to trade with me and that he has some kind of business, and that his team would send me payments and i would have to pay him in bitcoin/ethereum against that payments.
I without much investigation, agreed to work with him, as i was just considering my commissions. As it was decided 10%, which is quiet good for me so i didn't wanted to investigate his line of work.
People used to submit money in my account, and then sent him the receipts, he then watsapp me those receipts and i believing that as he has the receipt, that guy who has sent money actually works with him. So it was good for me.
Soon, i start getting payments in PKR rupees from all over Pakistan, and i kept sending bitcoin to this guy. But i got suspicious and started to worry as i wasn't much aware of his busines but kept doing it for around 2 weeks.
But will all this, i discussed it with my brother, and he told me to stop doing this Bitcoin stuff as he is not much aware of it and also not interested.
Anyway, i told this guy that i dont want to work, and i asked him about his business and some other details.. Things starting heating up between us.
The next day, i got a call from a person, and he said that he is going to FIA as he sent money in my account(which he had) and that my other partner who had a deal to send IPHONES to him against the payment(that he sent in my account) is now not receiving his calls and not responding. He said that me and that guy are a scam and we both have done fraud and that he is going to take me to courts. I talked to Nigerian guy and asked him to send me the Bitcoin back so that i can refund that guy and avoid going behind the bars but he replied that its ur and his matter. Do whatever you want..
What actually happened was, This Nigerian guy, was doing online scams, making people believe that he'll send cheap products. So people when talked to him, he gave them the banking accounts of their local countries, of people like me. through which, he got the payments and never sent any thing to the people he promised. And it was between me and the people who sent payments to my accounts to deal with each other.
The victims were,
1. the people who by greed believed in him as the products he showcased were pretty cheap. And
2. Crypto traders like me, who by greed and better trading profits, didn't investigated much. and started paying him for the money received from third person.
Suggestion: Don't do trade for 3rd person. Only send bitcoin to the person who send you payment in your account.
What a scammy scheme to say the least.
Thanks for sharing the story - quite scary, I'm positive it will help others avoid similar traps.
There were a few points that you could have become suspicious about but maybe didn't think it at the time, right?
1. Guy did not explain what his business was - your mistake for not asking about it
2. You was getting fiat which is traceable while sending him BTC equivalent (non-traceable)
Without the details, these two alone is a big no no - so regardless of the circumstance if the two, especially the second point is part of your collaboration/business than don't go that path.