Fraudulent Exchange Scheme with Fake AML Verification

In recent years, KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) schemes have become popular, but unfortunately, some exchanges use them as a cover for fraudulent activities. In this article, I will share my personal experience with the exchange TradeTo.Cash and how they applied these schemes to block my funds.

How Does KYC and AML Fraud Occur?

Fraudulent exchanges accept cryptocurrency and selectively block large transactions under the guise of KYC/AML checks. This happens regardless of the actual cleanliness of the funds. They can always refer to their AML services, claiming that the funds are “dirty,” and they are forced to block them for verification. Even if you have confirmations from various AML services, they are not concerned.

After blocking, your funds may remain inaccessible for an indefinite period while the exchange imposes excessive verification requirements. If you persist, your funds may be returned, but with deductions for the “AML check.”

My Experience with TradeToCash

On December 30, I decided to exchange 1000 USDC for Monero at a favorable rate. The exchange accepted and successfully processed my request. However, later, when I transferred 3568.27 USDC from the same wallet, that transaction was blocked.

The balance of my wallet consisted of funds received from the service curve.fi, and they were completely clean. I confirmed this through checks with AMLbot and WhoAmI. Here are my transactions:

0x8f0b3c04102645acffddd8059e3381ab4020f5f0485edf0a9f51ba0a4ab78e4 — transaction for 1000 USDC exchanged for XMR, which was successfully processed.

0x7d519d901d10360a5a638d7ce62488dcd6b9d71d58813630a478d9560e7fc5a1 — transaction for exchanging 3568.27 USDC from the same wallet, which was blocked.

Despite the cleanliness of the funds, the exchange demanded an excessive list of information and documents. The timelines for fund returns were stated to be up to 90 days, and the funds were allegedly blocked by some “liquidity provider.” After verification, they also intended to deduct 10% from the amount based on their rules, which have no legal standing.

The exchange hides its legal name, address, and country of registration, remaining anonymous while demanding an extensive list of data from users.

After this, I decided to check reviews about TradeTo.Cash on BestChange and Trustpilot and saw dozens of complaints from affected users who also faced fund blockages under the pretext of AML checks. Some users waited for months to get their funds back, despite providing all required data, and ultimately received them with a 10% commission deducted.

Despite the exchange’s administration actively deleting complaints and changing their status to “neutral,” you can always review them and learn about the exchange’s real attitude towards its clients.

What to Do?

I urge everyone not to remain silent and actively report this type of fraud that is gaining popularity. It is necessary to file complaints on BestChange and other monitoring sites, demanding the delisting of such exchanges that profit from ordinary users.

Contact information for BestChange to leave complaints: [email protected]

Widespread exposure of fraud on YouTube, Telegram, and forums where such platforms are advertised is essential. Only through collective and organized actions, as well as open discussions of this issue, can we achieve the blocking of such fraudulent platforms.

P.S. I will keep users on vocal.media informed about the progress of resolving this issue until it is finally resolved. I will also involve both informational and other resources if the initial actions do not yield results.