I recently came across a rather shocking case. The Pakistan National Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau conducted a joint raid on a large online investment scam network on December 27, involving a direct amount of $60 million.

During the operation, 34 individuals were arrested in phases 1 and 6 of the Karachi Defense Housing Area, including 15 foreigners and 19 local suspects. According to the Sindh Provincial Interior Department, this gang mainly engaged in long-term "account nurturing" scams through social media and instant messaging apps, specifically deceiving both domestic and international victims into participating in fake cryptocurrency and forex trading.

The seized items were also quite astonishing—37 computers, 40 mobile phones, 10,000 international SIM cards, and 6 sets of illegal communication gateway devices. This indicates how sophisticated the scam infrastructure behind it is.

The scam process is actually quite simple: first, they set up a seemingly legitimate fake trading platform, using fabricated profit data to gain trust. Once you invest around $5,000, they start demanding additional funds under various pretenses—such as taxes or withdrawal fees. Eventually, they shut down the account and disappear, with your money already transferred to overseas bank accounts, then moved across borders via cryptocurrency.

Such cases are quite common in the crypto investment space. No matter which platform you invest on, you must stay alert and not be blinded by promises of false profits. At the same time, it’s important to recognize that legitimate trading platforms and scam platforms often have obvious differences in details. Doing more research and verifying information is crucial.