The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division has received a complaint regarding Trusty Ledger, a company claiming to recover funds lost from cryptocurrency investment schemes. It appears Trusty Ledger may be running a recovery scam. Prior to being contacted by Trusty Ledger, the investor invested in cryptocurrency on a platform called Patagonia, Ltd. (“Patagonia”), at Patagonia24.pro, where they lost over $150,000. It appears the website has been taken down.
The Cryptocurrency Investment Scheme
The investor was introduced to Patagonia from a friend. The investor’s friend responded to an advertisement that claimed to be from Elon Musk where Elon Musk allegedly promised a million-dollar reward to anyone who is unable to earn on his trading platform. After responding to the advertisement, the investor’s friend was contacted by Kate Linn (“Linn”), an individual who claimed to be a “financial analytic” for the Patagonia platform. After starting to trade on Patagonia, the investor’s friend introduced them to Linn.
The investor was offered partnership in Patagonia, the ability to trade Forex, and to buy and sell stocks and precious metals on the Patagonia platform. Linn opened 3 portfolios for the investor that had a starting price of $12,500. Eventually, the portfolios increased in value, to over $200,000.
Each time the portfolios increased in value, Linn pressured the investor to invest more money in a new portfolio. On one occasion, Linn pressured the investor to invest $65,000 for the next portfolio but the investor decided they wanted to close their account. The investor received a call from Alexey Malinovsky (“Malinovsky”) who said that Patagonia could pay the $65,000 for the new portfolio and the investor can pay it back later. The investor agreed and the following day, the $65,000 was added to the investor’s Patagonia account.
After repaying the $65,000, an individual named Philip Burley (“Burley”) called the investor and said that he would transfer $65,000 to the investor’s bank as a reimbursement for the investor’s latest investment but the investor had to pay a 10% financial turnout fee. After paying the 10% fee, the investor never received the $65,000 and Burley stopped communicating with them.
Later, Malinovsky contacted the investor stating there was an audit on their account and the funds would be transferred in 3 days. After not receiving the funds, Malinovsky called the investor demanding the investor pay a financial turnout fee for the entire balance in their account, at the time a supposed balance of over $447,000, in order to withdraw the funds. The investor informed Malinovsky that they did not request a withdrawal, and they would like their account restored. Malinovsky refused and stated that the investor was required at that time to withdraw the whole amount in their account. After not paying the fee, the investor lost over $150,000.
The following is the list of individuals, including their contact information, who are associated with Patagonia and/or who the investor communicated with regarding investing on the Patagonia platform:
| Name | Telephone Number | Telegram Username |
|---|---|---|
| Kate Linn | 44 77 8416 4342 | @KateKateLINN |
| Philip Burley | 44 79 2522 6924 | @Burley148 |
| Nikolay Pierce | @id6953857357 | |
| Alex | @AlexSmolin2 | |
| Leisan Borgan | 44 77 1340 8932 | @Leisanfinance |
| Luna Dunkan | @Lunafinancet | |
| Alexandra Fridman | @Alexandrafinancet | |
| Alexey Malinovsky | 44 75 6460 6476 | @Malinovsky_Alexey |
The investor was instructed to deposit funds into the following cryptocurrency wallet addresses:
- 0611a7fe5b8b5418eb5ce35fc84d6ab455d75a99a45fbbf981482c368e726969
- ef24c30743b220acd3361bd8c0d0a190fb2a256528cb2398039b9841ddaeb5c0
- 735d0eea10df1573ef3270b3bf47e95a59e647fad1346bf36217f445fb8e6187
- e33a24a8c1472bc7117c0c98d8925d3cbafcc2b774821e1a79d6a50d208183fd
- a5d08f1e0cb5f923efd32682d265807752a555a1a8c3eee0266ff08c0e822bee
- 987373968433aa48f3e01dba3c18d70c0b84989e27fa1fed1797c024a1b79bf3
- 6101ed7b4811612225f34b0f2d97e442ef61f8872468e60552b5cd5a514476af
- e24a94a7138f4a6c42a8b81969b9faf4f1747c666fc2d584c04873985aa90239
- 1KBLeGABVVUbSrvB812xPYp9uW8RREAVM
- bc1q3dgdzu7tn3pmdmddvllnfgjtx7d7e0rj2uf9qm
The Refund and Recovery Scam
After representatives of Patagonia stopped communicating with the investor, the investor was contacted by Trusty Ledger, a company claiming they could recover all the lost funds from investing with Patagonia by using a smart contract.
After recovering a portion of the investor’s loss, Trusty Ledger transferred funds to an Atomic Wallet. An individual from the Atomic Wallet support team said that even though the money the investor invested in Patagonia is considered “clean” money since it came from the investor’s bank account, the money was in contact with fraudsters which resulted in a “bad binary trace” and is now considered “dirty crypto.”
The investor was told by Atomic Wallet to send a portion of the funds Trusty Ledger recovered to a few different cryptocurrency wallet addresses where they will forward the funds to a Tornado Cash mixer in order to improve the binary trail. After sending the funds through a mixer, Atomic Wallet claimed they would send the funds to the investor’s bank account.
These allegations have not been verified by DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called Advance Fee Fraud, which can take on many forms. It also appears to be what is commonly called a Pig Butchering Scheme (or Cryptocurrency Investment Scheme), and a Refund and Recovery Scam.
DFI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services or advice. Investment professionals need to be licensed with DFI to offer investments to Washington residents. In addition, most investment products sold need to be registered with DFI.
To check the licensing status and to find out if there are any complaints against an investment professional or investment product, please visit FINRA Brokercheck or contact the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Securities Division at (360) 902-8760. If you live outside of Washington State, contact your state securities regulator.
If a consumer believes a person or company has violated state law or acted improperly regarding an investment product or service, they may file a complaint with the Securities Division.
Additional Resources
Virtual Currency, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets Information for Consumers