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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

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The Tinder Trap - X Final

Part 10 - Klik hier voor Nederlands Chloe was not happy with the solution. I responded 'don't worry'. I reminded her that customer service also didn't realise I hadn't deposited $10,000 in one go. Chloe had deposited 3-, and I the other 7 thousand. I used her trick against herself. She didn't like that of course. But she couldn't blame me either. Even if she didn't agree.

I blocked her for half an hour. Then I came back online and wrote that my (step)mother had called and that she was seriously ill. So I had to go to her. I asked if we were going to trade before I left. I did that just to see if she would respond socially or business-wise. She said go see your mother. So I blocked her for the rest of the evening. My mother was truly ill, but she was already better. None of that was Chloe's business, of course.

The next day I took it one step further. Chloe asked what my mother had. Without lying I said COPD. And that it is very dangerous with the Covid virus. I said I needed the money for the hospital bills. Chloe became increasingly aggressive in her messages. And kept insisting that I should make a deposit. Because otherwise I couldn't get to my money. I just responded with 'don't worry'. And asked if she believed in karma.

Chloe lost her mother when she was 21. She was then studying abroad. I wrote that everything would be fine. And that we hadn't just met for no reason. It was destiny. And then I wrote 'you're my only hope'. Yep, borrowed from Star Wars. Chloe became more and more confused. Panicked, she asked, "Shouldn't a man share the pressure?" Surprisingly she still believed in her future husband. So I took it another step further.

I said we were in this together for a reason. The reason is that we belong together. This would bring us even closer together. For 'our future child'.

I decided to take it another step further. I asked if she believed in God. She said: Trust in God, but does God give you money?'. To which I immediately responded 'Why are you making fun of me? We're talking about my moms life here, and you think it's funny?. I blocked her again. I gave her some time to think.

Meanwhile, I had taken their fake trading site offline. And as blonde as I could be, asked her if she was still trading. That I was unable to log in to the site. Surprisingly, she sent me a new link. Only this time it was lunoip, with an 'i' instead of an 'e'.

They are so organized that they have a new site online in no time. A little fun detail, the creation date of this new site was the same date their other site was taken offline. So they didn't see this one coming. Chloe immediately asked if I had the money. But I just thanked her for the link 'Thanks sweetie!” and blocked her again.

I took it another step further. I texted Chloe that a friend of mine is super smart with computers. That he found a backdoor on the trading site. And that he had secretly put some kind of program on their site. But that she didn't have to be worried, because it was perfectly legal. At least that's what the friend had said. That hidden program showed us all the transactions. We had seen that she had already made more than enough profit, that she could easily lend me 15 thousand. And then my problem was solved.

Chloe, meanwhile, was turning red hot. She asked if I had already borrowed the money. I only responded that I know how important her mother is to her. And that she could now save the life of her mother-in-law's. Like an angel send from above. I asked her 'think of your mom. How proud she would be of her daughter'. And that she didn't want 'our child' to grow up without a grandmother.

Chloe couldn't contain herself anymore. "Are you crazy," she said, "Are you fooled. Are you poisoned?” She freaked out. I just responded with 'don't worry'.

I had one last surprise for Chloe. One that would definitely put her at ease. Not. I had one last photo for her. One to show her my love.

I had made a picture of my hand holding a bank card. Only in Photoshop I had turned the bank card into an identity card. One from Interpol. I had shopped my photo in it, watermark and all. Complete with my name and my Interpol data. The photo was indistinguishable from the real thing. Because I know Photoshop. I thought it was a nice parting gift for Chloe and her gang.

Surprisingly, as outrageous and fearless as these scammers are, they still had the decency to write "You are crazy. I will block you'. And that was the last I heard from her. Unfortunately I was unable to send the photo.

In the meantime, I also took their second scam site offline. But I had already found a third site of theirs. And now even a so-called victim blog of someone. These scammers are faking as if they are victims of their own scam. This way they try to steal even more money from their victims, by supposedly knowing an organisation that helps them retrieve their money.

In total I have now taken three sites of their offline. I'm still working on the fake blog. The domain provider hasn't accepted the proof. They are not convinced yet.

Because I didn't know exactly how deep the scammers had gotten into my system, I went completely offline. I turned off my internet. Computer and phone off. No more Wi-Fi. Then I installed VPN. That is a Virtual Private Network. Any server you come to while surfing the internet can read your location. Your location is protected with a VPN. Then scammers or anyone else will not be able to track or find you.

I've changed all my passwords. First my wifi. My laptop camera has always been covered with tape. But now I've also taped the camera of my iPhone. And I always put it on the table with the screen down. Pretty paranoia. But you just don't know who or what to trust anymore.

Conclusion: Everyone is being approached by scammers on a daily basis. You have small players. They often go directly to your spam box before you even notice them. Then you have the semi-professional scammers, who put in a little more effort and go a little further. And then you have the big players. Heavy professionals. They never work alone. But are complete organisations. They have devised a strategy. Despite being careful and doing background research, I still got scammed.

The reality is, my last ex-girlfriend cost me about 70,000 euros with my shop. Chloe wasn't even an ex-gf yet. In fact, she wasn't even my girlfriend. And yet it cost me about 13 thousand euros. You'd almost think I'm only into bad women.

To give it a bit of a positive spin, at least I have something to write about. I hope this at least helps a little to warn you. So you don't fall for it. Although there is a good chance that scammers are reading this too. In any case, be aware of their adjusted strategy.

#thetindertrap

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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

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The Tinder Trap - IX

Part 9 - Klik hier voor Nederlands “The platform wants us to loose,” Chloe said at one point. Ehm what?! I didn't quite understand that. They had just given a reward. The trading site wants us to lose, so that they can make a profit, she explained. She said we should go for the profit and not the rewards. But in the meantime she kept coming back to those rewards.

Create confusion. Chloe was definitely good at it. Now afterwards I understand why. At the time it was just… very confusing.

Then it started to get a little weirder. Because Chloe kept mentioning the deposits. I didn't notice then that she wasn't talking about profit anymore. She suggested that she would lend me money to get the reward of nearly $600. You don't get any interest on my bank savings account these days. So moving the money just for a reward sounded very interesting.

She asked how much money I had left to get the reward. I didn't mention the whole amount, but kept some back. As if somehow I knew that something wasn't right. I just couldn't put my finger on it. For example, Chloe loaned me three thousand dollars to make the 10 thousand deposit. Yep, you don't have to be a mathematician to calculate that added 7k.

'Customer service won't notice that it will be two deposits', she said. I thought that was strange. But Chloe said she did exactly the same with her uncle. And indeed. Lunoep.vip paid out a reward of $588. I thought wow, they really want us to trade. You can see how much money is involved in crypto trading. Trading sites even pay out such rewards just to keep you on their site.

Still, it started to feel weirder. Even though I had done some background research, I did another one. But now more extensive. I dug a little deeper. Then I discovered something that didn't really comfort me. The trading site lunoep.vip had only been around for a month. That in itself could be, because trading sites are popping up like mushrooms. And what did I know about crypto trading sites.

If you have such intensive contact and are not yet aware of any harm, then you are not responding to a red flag as you should. Especially if you've already done background research. You will not automatically be fully distrustful. I had even video chatted with Chloe a few times. And then I also did background research. I had secretly taken some pictures while chatting. She hadn't noticed.

Picture I took of Chloe during a video chat.

In any case, the mark on her cheek was clearly recognisable in the other photos she had sent. Only her Tinder photos were too vague to recognize that feature.

I compared her video photos with the ones she sent and with the Tinder photos. Somewhere I saw similarities. Chloe was Chloe. But I also saw details that weren't matching. My intuition was confused. Then I got the idea to ask a so-called fact-check question. One she wouldn't notice. I asked how long she had been trading. "Not long," she replied. So I asked, is that a year or a month. "No year," she said.

That answer didn't quite match the trading site's history. But it could also be that they previously traded on another site, of course. Yet something wasn't right. But what.

That night I slept very bad. I dreamed intensely. And guess what it was about. About Chloe and her trading. My dream gave me the answer. My sleeping brain made the connections. It woke me up in the middle of the night. Then I knew I had been scammed. I couldn't sleep anymore. I grabbed my laptop and logged in. The amounts were still there. Only now was the question, could I still access them.

The next morning I sent Chloe a cheerful and enthusiastic message on purpose. I would do anything but show that I knew she was fake. I also wanted to catch her on a lie. So I wrote 'Good Morning Sweetie. What time are we trading today? I have to work also. I think I can get a deposit'. I ended with the quesiton 'Btw what's your flight number sweetie?'.

In the meantime I had to go to work. I was only able to check my phone during the break. When that time came, I quickly grabbed my phone. Chloe had responded: "Don't know yet, if there is a good market, I will let you know in advance." So it was clear. I was scammed. I can't even put into words the feeling I got.

It's like sinking through the ground and taking off at the same time. Your body is filled with all the hormones your brain can produce. As if I was stoned, super high and razor sharp at the same time. Dang.

I decided to take over the story. After all, the scammers didn't know I was aware of them. So I wanted to keep them on a leash for as long as possible. And learn as much about them as possible. I would make them as sick as they did me.

Chloe took the bait and asked without hesitation how much I could deposit. By the way, you know what I really hate. When I ask a friend or acquaintance a question and they don't answer. Not that they haven't heard the question. Because they did. But they just don't answer. That's so annoying. So that's what I was gonna do with Chloe. I stopped answering her questions. I put on my so-called blond wig and gave a cheerful and sweet replies to everything. This time I was the one who kept saying 'don't worry'.

I asked her 'Didn't you already book the ticket for 25th?' And in order not to give it too much attention, start straight away about the extra money. That trick worked. She fell for it. I said I could borrow extra money from a friend. But I had to do a withdrawal first. I asked if she could show me again how to do that. Even though I already knew how things worked. I acted as blond and naive as possible. "I will if you have time" she answered.

After I finished working, we had a lovely chat. What dinner she had and what I ate. Until it was time to trade again. That went smoothly and efficiently. Chloe walked me through it step by step. My profit was also ridiculously high. $2310. If it continues like this, I won't have to have another job anymore. At least if it were true. Chloe sent me a screenshot. She had $4410 profit. Wow.

Then she couldn't resist and said 'By the way, you told me today that you want to increase your deposit?' 'Yes' I responded satisfied. I said I could borrow it from a friend. She immediately started talking about the deposit reward again. I deliberately didn't go into the fact that the rewards didn't matter. I went on to say that I had to withdraw first, because I had to show that I was creditworthy. To which she asked, does he not trust you.

Sure he trusts me, otherwise he wouldn't lend me the money, I joked. He just wants to see first that I can repay the money. As expected, Chloe continued to ramble on about the withdrawal. She clearly didn't agree. But blond and naive me convinced her that the reward, for this little meaningless withdrawal, would be all the greater. She couldn't help but agree. Because we did it 'for us together'. She was gonna show me how to return the money.

Was she gonna fall for the trick? Was my plan successful? Or was there something else going on. Their customer service was fake obviously. But these guys are so professional that they even faked an outside costumer service. One that ran through completely different channels. An application called Discord. That's a kind of IT and gamers message board, or call it -Whatsapp. When I realised they were behind that too, I had already passed them on too much confidential information. Like passwords. Disguised like relinking my account, for the missing transaction of a thousand euros. Like I said, these were big players.

But now the withdrawal. Surprisingly enough, Chloe guided me through it step by step. Convert from USD to USDT first. Connect the wallet. Enter amount. Click submit and then wait. I already said I didn't need the whole amount. Strangely enough, she didn't even ask about the amount. Apparently she confided this to me. Because she knew that the reward, or should I say "the loot" would be even greater.

While we waited for the confirmation of the withdrawal, Chloe asked if the missing thousand euros was already retrieved. Through this Discord program, these scammers tried to steal that as well by impersonating customer service. I said the helpdesk was still working on it.

Now it got more exciting. Did my trick work? "Did you receive a withdrawal," Chloe asked. No, nothing yet. It will take a while, she replied again. I thought for a while, yes. Then a pop-up appeared on my screen: Failed withdrawal. Shit.

My scammer-scammed-scammer enthusiasm was instantly gone. So they are not that retarded. But I continued to play naively.

Chloe said just before I got the pop-up 'I'm going to go away for a few minutes. If you do not receive your withdrawal, you should ask customer service. As if she knew what was going to happen. When I sent her the screenshot of the failed withdrawal, she wrote 'Why?' She played it well. Despite the fact that I felt bummed, I played along. I asked the costumer service.

They came with a beautiful message: 'You have reached the maximum withdrawal limit. For your and our financial security, you need to upgrade your account to a gold VIP membership. For that you need to have 30 thousand dollars deposited into your account. Do this within three working days, otherwise we will withhold a fine of 20% per day. You are currently short of $14,860. Thank you'. Great customer service nonetheless.

Chloe responded that she'd forgotten about this. She remembered that she once had the same problem. But that this had been so long ago that she had forgotten. She immediately asked if I had any money. I said I had a solution. If she lent me the money, my account was upgraded to Gold VIP. And then I could pay her back. She supposedly didn't understand. But she was willing to lend me 8 thousand dollar if needed. So I was still a little under 7 thousand dollar short. Then she said, 'Just think of a solution, I'm going to bed. Goodnight dear. And she was gone.

Of course this was not the end of me yet. What she can do, I can do better. So I wrote to her before I went to sleep that I had found a solution. I thanked her because the inspiration came from her.

The next day, sweet and always optimistic and sincere Chloe asked only one thing: Did you find a solution?. I replied 'Yes i did' but that I was still at work and let her know as soon as I got home. In between I blocked her all the time. And every time I came back online I didn't answer her question directly. I'm guessing she was getting pretty frustrated by now because she was getting more direct. She even called it 'your problem'. Suddenly there was no more us. And no joint future. Really?

With extra many words I texted Chloe my solution. I took so much time that she reacted remarkably irritated. She responded faster and faster. Which she never did before. But now it wasn't going fast enough for her, of course. I asked her if she would lend me 8 thousand dollars. Yes, she replied. So I was short of 6,860. I had calculated what percentage of profit she was making daily. And that I still had three days or so left. So if she lent me that $8,000 and we traded for three days, I would make over 7,000 in profit. In other words, I was in the 30 thousand. Brilliant solution, right? She totally disagreed. To be continued…

#thetindertrap

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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

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The Tinder Trap - VIII

Part 8 - Klik hier voor Nederlands With open eyes and full of faith in Chloe, I stepped into the next layer of the trap. How ironic now, and innocently then, I joked about the amount to be deposited.

I said I would transfer 5k. And then joked if I would deposit 500k otherwise. She laughed about it. And no doubt I would have made her doubt whether I was such a big fish.

Without realizing it, I even made it worse. I joked if I would make it 50M. She couldn't stop laughing. Now in retrospect I completely understand why.

I bought five thousand USDT. Transferred it from the crypto wallet to the lunoep.vip trading site. In the meantime, I probably gave her access to my crypto wallet quite unintentionally. No idea. I didn't notice anything.

She suddenly asked me a very direct, but strange question. "Have you ever wondered how much money you want to make in a week or a month?" I asked her 'what do you mean?' and explained that it was easy math. She had already shown me that she made more than 2 thousand dollars in 150 seconds. She just laughed.

Then she said 'I mean by trading, how much money do you want to make in a month?' I said I had no idea. And asked if she already had a goal. Yes she said. She wants to earn more than a hundred thousand dollars a month. It's simple math. So I explained that a month had an average of for weeks with five working days per week

In other words, twenty trading days in a month. Dividing a hundred thousand dollars by 20 days equals five thousand a day. In other words, she had to earn five thousand dollars per trade. To which she said that you would have to have an amount of 30 to 50 thousand dollars to achieve that.

Then I explained one more time that money was never my motivation. I believe it was more important to be able to do what you love to do. And if you earn enough money with that, you can live a wonderful life. I guess she was hoping for a different answer. The Trap was still closing, of course.

I was even talking about my macaron shop. That I had built something big with my own money. And how that was unfortunately destroyed again, by the Municipality of Amsterdam, among other things. That I had lost all my money. She loved what I had built. And she hated people who are too selfish and ignore the interests of others. Smart comment again. Good for confidence. Now afterwards you'd wonder, was she talking about herself.

We started trading again. She even asked if I had any more money. I said I still had some savings in the meantime. I was happy and grateful that she helped me earn some money again.

She responded that I was very smart and fast. That I was probably going to surpass her trading. Oh and that I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone about it. I understood it was her uncle, who gave her the trading tips. Maybe that wasn't completely legal. No idea. In any case, it had a great effect.

I thanked her. To which she thanked her uncle. After all, that was her teacher. I wouldn't pass it on anyway. She responded 'I trust you because you are honest'. I said 'You the smart one, me the creative one'. 'Perfect combination' was her conclusion. She apologised for going offline for a while. I thought she was still at work. An hour later she was online: 'I'm home now'.

Then she remembered I could receive a First Deposit Reward. I had to request this myself from costumer service. Easy said, easy done. Customer service immediately sent me an automated message with a schedule of which bonus reward you got when you deposited a certain amount.

“Dear customer, upon inquiry, deposit10000 (USD), get a bonus of 488 (USD) + 1% of the amount of free injection (USD), a total of 588 USD, (this month is limited to 188 quotas) Currently remaining: 2quotas deposit 30,000 (USD), get a bonus of 888 (USD) + 1% of the free bet amount (USD), a total of 1188USD, (only 188 quotas this month) Currently remaining: 3 quotas deposit 50,000 (USD), get a bonus of 1288 (USD) + 1% of the free bet amount (USD), a total of 1788USD, (only 188 quotas this month) Currently remaining: 5 quotas deposit 80000 (USD), get a bonus of 1888 (USD) + 1% of the free bet amount (USD), a total of 2688USD, (only 188 quotas this month) Currently remaining: 5 quotas”

You had to make a reservation for this with customer service. I thought that was very strange at the time. Why make a reservation to deposit an amount so that you get a bonus. When I asked Chloe for an explanation, she patiently continued to explain how it works. And even though I kept finding it strange, if Chloe is convinced how it works and has used it herself, then it must be good.

Then you would expect her to go wild on the extra deposits, right? But she said the exact opposite. Chloe said 'Rewards are extra. Profit is what we have to go for." Don't pay too much attention to the rewards, because the trading profit is the most important. And yet she went on about those rewards. Now in retrospect this all makes sense. After all, it does. But in the moment itself, so much happened that I didn't see the whole picture.

Meanwhile, as I write this, I have filed a report with the police, the Fraud Helpdesk, Rabobank and crypto.com. Countless emails go back and forth with the costumer service. But because I no longer trust anything and anyone, I have already contacted crypto twice via another channel to verify whether it is the real customer service. And not the scammers.

The annoying thing is that nobody really helps you concretely. Not the police, they don't do anything unless you mistake your taxform for 100 euros. The Fraud Helpdesk, nice name, but they don't do much. I chatted to Rabobank a few times, through my bank app. But then you get chat bot. A computer that doesn't help you either. This computer promises that you can close the chat and that an employee will send you the response. Not so.

I then called Rabobank. I spoke to a very friendly, obviously a very young guy. I'm guessing he was clicking through a helpdesk program. He understood very little of my story. Fortunately, he was patient enough and really did his best.

His conclusion was that I should first wait for the results of the investigation of crypto.com and then get back to them. In advertising, they make it sound so nice and simple. Credit card purchases are insured against theft, damage and loss. But in reality, it's not that simple.

I admit, this is quite frustrating. I can understand how Alice, but also Remy must have felt. To be continued...

#thetindertrap

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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

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The Tinder Trap - VII

Part 7 - Klik hier voor Nederlands

You know what's the worst. You think you have found someone who completely matches your energy, your way of doing things. Someone from whom you learn a lot. I don't mean at the knowledge level. No, on an emotional level. Of course there are also things that you don't quite understand yet. Things that go a bit too fast. But still that all comes with getting to know each other better.

Anyway. Chloe was so caring and patient that she guided me step by step, to earn back the loss with a relatively small amount of money. It does work. At least it would have.

I deposited €250.00 into my crypto wallet. My money was safe there anyway. Although I didn't think about it at the time. Have you ever realised, your salary is deposited into your bank account by your employer, right? Your bank is nothing more than a computer these days. The amount is digital. Just some numbers that you can check via an app.

You never touch real money. No notes. Almost everyone pays with card. Me too. A cashier woman from a wholesales in Purmerend even reacted irritated and quite rude when I wanted to pay with cash. She said, next time just pin. I was too flabbergasted to give a proper response.

Back to trading. Back to Chloe. She helped me with the withdrawal from the crypto wallet to the trading site. Everything ran smoothly. Customer service confirmed the transaction. And the trading could begin. In between, Chloe asked if I had celebrated Easter with my family. I didn't have any Easter plans, but told her that I wasn't going to celebrate anything because my (step)mother was sick. Which was true in fact.

I asked Chloe whether I should withdraw the amount to my wallet after trading. She said the amount was also safe on the trading site. Even though I thought that was a bit strange, because she herself always refunded the amount after trading, I didn't look for anything behind it. Why should I.

Chloe was now going to eat something on her break. She would notify me when it was time to trade. If her uncle would give her a heads up. I waited patiently.

More than an hour later she was back online. She asked what I was doing. I explained that I was in contact with the crypto helpdesk. To retrieve the thousand euros. But that I was sent from back and forth. She said don't worry, it often takes seven days. And that we would start trading in 15 minutes.

I said that 250 euros would not have much effect. There was also $25 in transaction fees. I asked if I shouldn't deposit some more. At least we had now proven that the withdrawal had not gone into the wrong network. I had some faith in it again. But as clever as she was, she advised something completely different.

“First, familiarize yourself with the whole process. And if it feels good, we can always increase the amount". Smart thinking right? “First do it in such a way that you are sure that you will not make any more mistakes.”

As blond as I was, I asked her how I should transfer money back to my wallet. "I will teach you" she replied. We started trading. I clicked BUY. Set the seconds to 300.

Two hundred and twenty dollars traded in 300 seconds. Would it work. How much would that bring.

Now wait for the timer to finish. I asked if she was also trading now. Yes she said and sent me a screenshot of her timer. I asked if she always made one trade only. I mean, if you make so much profit in a few seconds, why not do it more often, right? Although I'm not sensitive to it, but gambling addiction would be lurking around the corner.

She explained that she always made one trade only. Her uncle told her when and how. I thought, you should be very happy with an uncle like that. I thought it was great that her family supported each other this much. And at the same time, not get carried away with such big profit.

The timer. I didn't even have to click 'Continue to place'. But just wait. Then the timer finished. A pop-up appeared on my screen. +44.00 USD.

Meaning to earn $44 in 300 seconds with $220. Which by itself is very nice. But you see, this is going to take a long time before we reach that €1000.

Meanwhile I asked if she had told her uncle about the missing 1000 euros. Yes she said. Her uncle said we should just wait because it was our own fault. Then out of the blue she started explaining principles to me.

With a $220 principal, you've made $44. If your principal is $10,000 or $30,000, you can make more than $2,000 or $6,000. I joked back that I may be blond but I already figured this out.

So I asked if we would do it with a higher amount now. No she said. We will first refund your money.

Then I sent her a screenshot of what lunoep.vip customer service had just sent me. Strangely enough Chloe asked 'what did customer service say?' Surprised, I reacted that it is in the screenshot I just sent you. Chloe can be very strange at times. Even though that was weird, I wasn't gonna act paranoia to think there was something behind all this. After all, we were still getting to know each other.

The screenshot of the customer service of lunoep.vip I copied the text from the screenshot and texted it to Chloe. It said, the Finance Department verified me. That due to the choice of the wrong network we would receive an answer within seven working days. The crypto app and the lunoep.vip trading site were apparently agreeing with each other. At least that's how they pretended to be.

She actually only reacted very superficially with 'I see'. After which she immediately switched to 'Do you want to buy USDT now?' As I mentioned, she can occasionally react very unexpectedly and directly. 'Wonderfull nerd' I thought. She would help me increase the amount in my wallet. I was going to make another deposit. To be continued...

#thetindertrap

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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

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The Tinder Trap - VI

Part 6 - Klik hier voor Nederlands

Chloe explained: 'I mean, you sign up for an account yourself and you can make some money too'. Meaning she offered me to trade myself. Who wouldn't want to earn money so easily? While money has never been my motivation. She became more and more enthusiastic that we were doing this together for 'our future'. Although I wasn't sure if we would ever get married and have children, our connection grew.

This time she would trade with one account. Probably because I was the other account. Although I wasn't sure what she was doing with that second account. I didn't feel quite comfortable to trade yet. I explained that I did not have a business bankaccount. "I trade with my private account," she replied. "So that was no problem."

Then she explained that I had to download the crypto.com app. This time she didn't send a link but a picture of the crypto.com logo. I asked what lunoep.vip was. She explained that that was the trading website. I first had to open a wallet on crypto.com to buy USDT. That was the same as USD (Unites States Dollars) only the T stood for something like Trading. Or crypto currency.

As thorough as I was, I installed the wrong app on my phone. This was not the crypto.com wallet, but the DeFi wallet. It was also from crypto.com but different. I did a quick background research. But crypto.com turned out to be an official crypto trading app/wallet. So I installed the app.

I had to verify the app because, just like a bank account, it is an official institution. The verification went smoothly. The app worked. Chloe told me to click BUY. Then click TRADE and look up USDT. Then I had to fill in a number, so I asked her how much she started with. She replied with $5K. But I could also start with $500 or $1000, she said. Just what you want. I thought about it for a while. And then decided to start with 1000.

Then I had to put Google Authenticator on my phone. That is an authorization app to verify transactions you want to make.

After that I had to create an account on the trading site lunoep.vip. Here too I had to verify myself. But that also went smoothly. Through costumer service I had to request an ERC-code to link my crypto wallet with the trading website. No idea what that meant. But Chloe knew what she was talking about. Her uncle explained it well.

Putting money on the crypto app went smoothly. Only then something went wrong. At least, when I wanted to transfer money from my crypto wallet to the trading site, I got a pop-up that said the 'Whitelisted address was too recent'. I had to wait 24 hours for a withdrawal to be accepted.

What I didn't notice at the time was that Chloe wasn't in much of a rush to lose her trading moment. On the contrary. She said we would wait patiently for 24 hours.

The next day we picked up where we left off. This time the withdrawal was successful. I received a confirmation by email. I had to send this to the customer service of the trading site. They would then confirm that the amount would be on lunoep.vip. Only this confirmation never came. Strange.

Chloe told me to just wait. That it could take a while. But no matter how long I waited, the amount wouldn't show up on the trading site. Chloe went to investigate. She discovered that the transaction had gone through the Cronos Network. This had to be the ERC network. Thank you for the mistake. The money was now hanging between the wallet and the trading site. Somewhere in the blockchain. But she reassured me that the amount would be refunded to my crypto account anyway. Don't worry.

I had to request an 'ERC deposit address' again from customer service of lunoep.vip. And reset the wallet. Chloe said that if the amount was not refunded the next day, I should contact crypto customer service. In the meantime, I researched myself further and discovered that crypto did indeed give an official message that the Cronos Network had a delay. Somehow the story made sense again. At least so it seemed. We would continue tomorrow.

The next day she started with asking if I had already received my money back. But my crypto wallet and the trading site were still empty. The Network delay message was still there. I contacted the crypto.com helpdesk. They emailed that if the transaction was confirmed that I should request information from the third party. So I went to the lunoep.vip helpdesk. But they couldn't do much for me either, because the money hadn't been credited. The amount was still hanging somewhere in the network.

Then Chloe asked a bit of an odd question. What I would do if the money was not refunded or credited to the lunoep trading site. Would I be 'sad' then? Of course I was disappointed and said that losing a thousand euros didn't make me very happy.

I asked her why she asked me that. Then she said, "I'm just assuming, don't worry." I explained that I was not worried, because I can't change anything about it. And worrying about something you can't change is pointless. "I like your character," she responded. And then 'Let's wait a little longer'.

Then suddenly she came up with a surprising proposal. She said I don't know if you're going to like it. She suggested to buy 200 or 500 USDT and trade with it. It would help to win back 1000 USDT in profit anyway. We would even earn back much more than a thousand.

Making more money was still not my motivation. But getting the thousand euros back through trading sounded like an interesting option. I immediately said that we should test the network first. That I wouldn't lose money again. She agreed it was a good plan.

“You want to do it now?” I asked. To which she responded 'If you have time. I'll check every step of you. What I still didn't realize at the time was that this was already a mapped out strategy of hers. To be continued…

#thetindertrap

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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

Text

The Tinder Trap - V

Part 5 - Klik hier voor Nederlands

She asked me to login to her trading website. She gave me her login and her password. Personally, I thought that was quite something that she trusted me with it. Not knowing that there was a completely different purpose behind it. Yes I am blonde, but not so super blonde. So I did a background check first.

She sent me the link www.lunoep.vip. Now I never click on links that are sent to me. You should never do that. It is safer to type them yourself in your browser, in stead of clicking them I ran the name of the website through Google.

I couldn't find anything suspicious. At least, Google gave little information of that site. So no warnings that the site was fake either. There are so many trading websites that this could be just one of them. Now in retrospect I know better. But at the time, it all seemed to make sense.

The lunoep.vip login page. Of course I should have seen right away that the link was lunoep while the page was called luno. Luno is an original trading website. The letter 'ep' could of course very well stand for Eastern Pacific. Only that was not the case.

I logged into her account. The page that opened was with trading information. Lots of trading information. By sending screenshots she showed me what to click.

The homepage of the fake crypto trading site

I had to look up the EUR/USD crypto and click BUY. I had to enter 10300 shares. Then confirm the option for 180 seconds and wait. A counter began to count down. I didn't have to do anything. She joked, "Meanwhile, chat with me." After 180 seconds, a pop-up appeared. It said +1442 USD. “We did it sweetie!” she wrote.

A profit of 1442.00 USD in 180 seconds. But not really.

At the time I didn't quite understand what I had done. But apparently she had made 1442 dollars in 180 seconds. It's an extra income next to my work, she said. Then she asked me to withdraw the amount. Refund to her bank. She guided me through it step by step.

“Now you know my last name,” she joked when I saw her bank details. Chloe Duan it said. She deposited a total amount of 11,600.00 into her bank account. "You see? You can do it," she joked. Indeed, it seemed surprisingly simple. A pop-up confirmed a successful withdrawal.

First successful withdrawal of USD 11,600.00.

Then she wrote: 'Now that you know me, we have to believe in ourselves together okay? Believe yourself, i believe myself and we believe in eachother'. Indeed, it went fast. But at the same time, I won't deny that it was nice to have someone confide in you. Which makes you trust grow in someone else.

She was happy and grateful that I had helped her trade. She immediately made it 'for us together'. If you're reading this now, you're probably thinking, you're not falling for this trick. Even as I write this I think so. How could I have ever been so blonde. But if you are so much in touch with each other every day and share everything, you experience it differently. And finally she didn't ask anything of me at all. She just showed it. Super smart of course.

At some moment I asked her about her travel to the Netherlands on Sunday 17 April. To which she responded, oh I didn't tell you that I had bought an early bird ticket. She would be coming on April 25th. I did wonder, how can you forget. I told her it was a pity that she would miss the party. But she replied that we would have a big party as soon as she arrived. She even talked about 'our future child'. To me that was a bit too much too soon. But decided to keep that opinion to myself.

A photo Chloe sent me spontaneously.

The next day, between all the texts we sent to each other, she asked if I wanted to help her trading again. Very subtle. I felt a lot more confident after our first trade yesterday. So I was up for it. "Just tell me what to do" I wrote. She would text me when her uncle indicated it was time to trade.

When the time came, I had to log in again and look up EUR/USD. This time I had to click the SELL option. Fill in 20100 shares. Again choose 180 seconds and confirm. Only now I got an 'insufficient amount' message. "Just change it to 20000," she said. This time the input worked and I had to wait another 180 seconds.

The profit of trade number 2.

When the counter ended, a pop-up with +2800 USD appeared. Two thousand eight hundred dollars in 180 seconds. I can't believe how quick and simple it was. Anyway, she had an uncle who had thirty years of experience in finance who gave her the trading tips.

The withdrawal of 22,700 after that was successful. "You can now trade on your own," she joked. And 'do you have any plans for your work in the next few years?'. If you can earn money that easily, then you can indeed stop working at a young age, I thought.

spontaneous picture of Chloe at the office.

I joked that she could teach me how to trade, then I could stop working. She responded 'for sure'. She would never want to be dependent on one job. She always found other ways to generate income to have a better and more comfortable life. I have had many different jobs in my life too. Money has never been my motivation. But enjoy and have a comfortable life did.

The next day, after a lot of texting back and forth, she asked me again if I wanted to help her trade again. I had already understood the method so I replied: 'Yes I will help. Just tell me what to do'. Only this time she said: 'You may not understand what I mean'.

#thetindertrap

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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

Text

The Tinder Trap - VI

Part 4 - Klik hier voor Nederlands

Chloe's original plan was that she would come to Amsterdam on April 17. I told her that on April 22 I was organising a party with some colleagues. And that she was also invited. She absolutely loved that idea. She loves dancing.

Then she said she had to tell me a secret. She had been married for 4 years. And she hadn't told me yet why she was divorced. Her husband had cheated on her several times. And he mistreated her when he drank. At one point she was so down and depressed that she wanted to end her life. She did everything for him while he only made her feel worthless. She even sent me a photo of the abuse.

Chloe's arm if her husband had been drinking when she was still married.

She apologised for telling me this. But she wanted to be completely open about herself. Share everything. No secrets. Respect and self-esteem are very important to her. She likes when people are smiling. She wants to make the whole world happy.

Chloe had already mentioned that she was into trading. Her uncle worked in finance for 30 years and now had his own company. He gave her tips when and what to trade.

One day she excused herself. She went offline for 15 minutes to trade. She then sent me a screenshot that read +2268.00 USD. “Look what I earned today,” she wrote. Money has never been my motivation for what I do. But it was certainly impressive what she managed to do in just 15 minutes. I understand that she's very proud of it.

The profit Chloe made after fifteen minutes of trading.

She said she wanted to stop working when she was 50 or 55. That it would be even better if she could stop at 45. If you can make that much money in 15 minutes, then you will certainly succeed. I totally understood her goal of being independent, when she's been through such a bad marriage.

There was no video calling yet. But she did send me some pictures. This time with makeup and a smile. Again, she looked younger in these photos than the ones on Tinder.

I asked her if she was wearing her wedding dress at one of her Tinder photos. She replied that she hoped I wouldn't notice. So in my head I already calculated that that photo must have been at least six years old. Because she had been married for four years and divorced for two. Anyways, she looked good.

Then the moment came when we started video calling. It was quite exciting, because we already had such a good connection. What if one of us would lose interest. It could go either way. But the video moment came.

I noticed again that she looked younger than I expected. She lay with her head on a pillow. The conversation lasted about 15 minutes. Due to the delay in the connection, the time passed quickly. We laughed a lot. The energy between us was great.

Shortly after the video call, Chloe texted me that she had a problem. She had forgotten her iPad at work. She has two trading accounts which she has to trade at the same time. If I could trade for her on my computer. I immediately said no. I thought that risk was too great. What would happen if she would loose money, because I did something wrong. No, I wasn't going to risk that.

Innocently she kept insisting. She would guide me step by step. We could at least try, she said. She didn't want to lose this trading opportunity. The only way to find out is to try, she said. I kept refusing. But she finally convinced me. We were gonna try it together. If I knew then what I know now. To be continued…

#thetindertrap

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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

Text

The Tinder Trap - III

Part 3 - Klik hier voor Nederlands

I was feeling sad all morning. Continuously checking my phone. As if by some miracle Chloe would be there again. But no. Nothing at all.

Until suddenly I got a message at 2:00 PM. It was Chloe! I was so happy again. Apparently she slept quite a long time. No idea. I also thought it was a bit weird to ask why she was offline and why it took her so long to respond.

She told me she had a dream about me. She sent a picture of what she was eating. She did a little dance because she loves food. When I carefully asked where she was for so long she joked, I'm a vampire remember. You can only see me at full moon. So watch out.

Chloe's lunch.

She asked why I was still single. I asked her the same question. And if she wasn't secretly a male vampire. Then she suggested we make a video call. But only when she was ready. That took three days, when she had time and was home to video call.

One day she asked me if I wanted to send a quick selfie. I immediately asked, but our video call then. She replied that we would do that the next day. If there's one thing I'm not good at, it's taking selfies. But if she sent one, I would too.

She sent a photo of her office. When I asked, where's your selfie? Said she couldn't do that at work. Sounds pretty logical. But she would make one when she got home.

The picture Chloe send me of her working place. Her office at night.

In this photo I saw an office at night. With those cubicles.A few people at work. As careful as I was, I even quickly studied the photo. I counted three people. She corrected me and said with a smiley that there were four.

That same evening (it was morning for her now because of the time difference) she sent me a photo that she was on her way home. “Wait for my selfie picture, okay?” she wrote. Of course I did.

Chloe driving home after work

Then she sent a selfie. She looked younger in this photo compared to the Tinder one. But that could also be because she wasn't wearing any makeup now. Although trust grew, I still did a photo check. I opened her photos next to eachother to find similarities. Or differences.

Chloe with serious look just before going to sleep.

I compared the shape of her eyes, her eyebrows, her jawline, her lips and her philtrum. That's the part between your nose and lips. I took my time. And as strange as it was, it could really be her. Makeup works wonders anyway. Just look at Niki Tutorials.

One day she was visiting friends. She had cooked because she loved to cook.

Chloe's cooking at friends.

She also sent me another selfie. Because for someone who is always cheerful, optimistic and smiley, her last photo was very serious. So I asked for a new one, but with a smile.

Finally a picture of Chloe smiling. But is it her?

Instead of a photo, I surprised Chloe this time with an audio message. After all, we hadn't heard each other's voices yet. She had a drink with her friends that evening after dinner. She had a little too much to drink to drive home. So she stayed over.

Her friends had gone to bed by now. Maybe it was a bit because of the alcohol, but she would sing me a song. I thought she was kidding. But then she surprised me with a cute audio message. In which she sang an Elvis song: Can't help falling in love. So sweet. Listen for yourself.

#thetindertrap

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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

Text

The Tinder Trap - II

Part 2 - Klik hier voor Nederlands

None of the photos gave a notification. So there were no copies online. They were originals. So Chloe was the woman in the pictures. Although you only know that for 100% sure when you've seen each other in real of course.

Chloe second picture on Tinder.

She then asked me a bit of a strange question: Who was I living with. Surprised, I asked her why with whom. I live alone. And asked her if she lived with someone else. Don't worry, i also live alone, she joked. She told me she had a house in Malaysia. Which she rented to friends to have some extra income.

Chloe had previously rented a house in Amsterdam. She now wanted to start renting again, but eventually buy a house. Because she really wanted a 'husband and child'. I wasn't sure about that yet. But we would definitely be best friends if we were not gonna be husband and wife. She said she had been married for four years and had no children. She was divorced two years ago.

She asked about my parents. I told her that my mom had passed away several years ago. Her mother had passed away 14 years ago. After a six-year battle with cancer. Her mother died when she was 21 while studying (abroad I guess). Her father lived in Singapore with her stepmother. And he was happy.

We talked about everything, like hobbies. Chloe loved to cook. And dancing. In her spare time she invested, thanks to a friend from New York who worked at Captrust. By now it was already late. She had already finished work and went home. She suggested to text again the next day. Good night.

The next morning I texted Chloe. Good morning sunshine. But Chloe had suddenly disappeared. What?! My app messages did not arrive. They stayed on a single check mark. Which means they are not delivered.

What was even weirder, her profile was no longer on Tinder either. I felt so sad. We had such wonderful chemistry. And now she was suddenly gone. I didn't understand. My opinion on Tinder was reaffirmed. Only crazy people. What a bummer. To be continued in part III.

#thetindertrap

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the-tinder-trap · 3 years ago

Text

The Tinder Trap - I

Part 1 - Klik hier voor Nederlands

A writer once said in an interview on the news 'Every self-respecting single is on Tinder these days'. Until then, I thought Tinder was just for teens. But her words won me over. I first created a Tinder account a few years ago. But soon I was done with it. Removed the app again. I was clearly no Tinder material.

But after being single for a while, I was curious again. Covid has not helped in the last recent years. So I created an account again. And that's how I got to know Chloe.

Sometimes in your life, you connect with someone as if you've known each other for ages. It rarely does, but still. Do you know what i mean. Somehow it feels very familiar instantly. The same happened with Chloe. A woman with a Malaysian father and Filipino mother.

Chloe on Tinder.

Pretty fast she asked if I had Whatsapp and she gave her mobile number. To which I asked if she already trusted me with her number. Sure, she said. Because you can always block a number on your phone, I sent her a Whatsapp message.

I asked how long she had been on Tinder. She replied that she was actually new to Tinder and didn't really know the manners yet. My account was also only active for two days. Chloe was funny and witty.

She joked that 'all people have some different problems. Why don't we make them happy, to fill our beautiful world with happiness'. A wonderful optimist just like me.

She worked in the Philippines at an international logistics company. Where she was Administrative Assistant for two years. She was then promoted and sent to Amsterdam to replace the manager there. At the end of this month she would return to Amsterdam for work. This time to stay there permanently.

She worked a lot at night. So she looked like a vampire. When I told them I was an Art Director, she even knew what that was. Lots of people don't know what it means. Be responsible for visualization and images. She was impressed that I was creative. And asked if I wanted to teach her. She wanted to show me something and know my opinion about it.

She sent me a drawing. And said, take your time. It was a drawing of a woman by herself.

Art by Chloe.

Now I know I'm blonde, but not completely retarded. While we were chatting, I did an image search. Chloe had three photos in her profile. I downloaded them and ran them through Google Image Search. This way you can find out if they are original photos. Or that they might be 'borrowed'. Like from someone else. To be continued…

#thetindertrap

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