If she’s pretty and she sends you a social media invite for a bitcoin trade, then she’s most probably a scammer!
This seemed to be the chilling implication for 51-year-old Koorapetse Sydney Molefi of Mahalapye recently, as just days after accepting an invitation from a woman going by the name Keneilwe Matshwenyego from Molepolole, he found himself P3 000 broke.
Matshwenyego, whose Facebook profile is Binance Keneilwe introduced herself as a Guideline Manager for Binance Trading System, based in Washington DC.
Through Whatsapp and Facebook Keneilwe urged Molefi to register for an investment that would change his life forever.
A skeptical Molefi however demanded that the Guideline Manager should send her Identity Number and pictures, to which she obliged.
Convinced that this indeed was legit, Molefi promised to deposit P1000 as a start.
In the Whatsapp exchanges that The Voice is in possession of, Keneilwe promises Molefi that a P1000 would easily fetch him a cool P5000 in three days.
“But there was a catch. It was not clear as to how I’d be monitoring my account’s progress. After successfully registering my account and depositing the money I was told for me to make any withdrawals I’d have to authorise the trade,” explained Molefi.
Keneilwe explained that Molefi has to pay a once-off P3000 as authorization fees and wait until his account reaches the withdrawal stage.
“There was no telling when that withdrawal would be, or how I’d be able to tell, but she promised that after paying the P3000, it would take at least 30 minutes for me to be able to make a withdrawal from my investment,” said Molefi.
Probably seeing red flags again Molefi, asked Kefilwe to text him in Setswana and her response was a resounding no.
“This is Binance, I’m not supposed to speak or write in Setswana, the company language all over the world is English,” she said.
Molefi deposited the P3000 and from there was given the runaround by the lady in what she termed “blockchain task”.
“I was getting worried because just when I was expecting to be withdrawing from my account, I was told about a Bitcoin task fee which stood at P6500. It was at that moment that I knew something was not right and I demanded to be refunded my money,” he said.
But not before he deposited a further P1500 into the account.
Narrating his story this week in Palapye, Molefi said that he was yet to report the matter to the police as he was hopeful he could still recover his money.
“All I have are these contact numbers +1(201)6859186 and 75375611 which sadly only communicate in WhatsApp.”
The Voice tried calling the two numbers but failed to go through.
Meanwhile, Buka Ketlhaotswe whose number was also used as a reference number said he had to call Orange Botswana to let them know about this.
He further said he also nearly fell victim to Keneilwe’s charm.
Ketlhaotswe said Keneilwe send her a Facebook friend request and immediately recruited her to register for Binance Trading.
“I went through with the entire process but became reluctant when she asked me to deposit some money. I think she wanted about P5000 and I decide to end it,” he said.
“I had tried to meet her but for some reason it was impossible. There was no way I was going to give my money to a faceless person,” said Ketlhaotswe.
Have you invested with Binance Trading System? Kindly share your experience.
Facebook: Kabelo Dipholo
Twitter: kabelodipholo
email: kdipholo@thevoicebw.com
(201) code is for Egypt, Scammers, thieves. They spend the whole day, calling people to access their bank account. “ My advice is don’t be a victim of fraud , (1) Don’t answer calls you don’t know where they come from.(2) Don’t accept people who request you for business in Facebook and WhatsApp, block them and have peace.
We need to be smart of these scammers. Especially when they contact you on Facebook or WhatsApp. I see them make comments everywhere about how well they are doing and how much money they made. Don’t believe it. Making a Facebook account and Whatapp is very easy and anyone can do it. There is nothing preventing them from making a fake name and company and running away with your company.
I also don’t trust Bitcoin. I don’t even understand it to be honest. Some of my friends want to make money with it but I have advised them not to. I think we are still very new to these things and its too easy to be cheated.
SPEAKING OF PEOPLE WHO WORRY ABOUT THE CARBON PRINT OF BTC
THE SOLUTION IS TO MINE BASED ON POWER FROM HYDRO, IN THOSE NATIONS, WHERE THE OPPORTUNITY COST OF POWER IS LOW, IN TERMS OF THE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY COST,FUSED WITH ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS
SO A NATION WHICH HAS ALMOST FREE HYDRO POWER, IT CAN USE IT TO MAKE STEEL AND ALUMINIUM OR MINE BITCOIN ! WHAT WILL IT CHOOSE ?
THE CHOICE IS CLEAR !
THEN COMES GEO THERMAL ,SOLAR AND WIND ! IF A NATION HAS THESE SOURCES IN ABUNDANCE – BUT NO VIABLE MANUFACTURING OR EXPORT SECTOR – THEN WHAT TO DO ? MINE BITCOIN !
THEN WE COME TO NATIONS WHEREIN COAL IS IN ABUNDANCE,BUT THERE ARE NO CEMENT OR POWER PLANTS. WHAT IS THE BEST USE ? BITCOIN !
SO THE 1ST OPTION IS MINING BTC , AND THEN THE NEXT OPTION LIES IN HOSTING THE SERVERS ,WHICH HOST THE CRYPTO TRANNSACTIONS !
FOR HYBRID OFFGRID RENEWABLES WITH DIESEL POWER BACK UP – WHICH ARE OFF THE GRID – THE “ONLY VIABLE USE” IS BTC ! AND THE SAME APPLIES TO BASE LOAD POWER PRODUCED BY IPPs – THAT SUPPLY CAN ONLY BE ABSORBED BY BTC AND ALSO LOWER THE POWER COSTS TO THE IPP ! dindooohindoo