'I'm a very trusting person,' Caroline* says. 'I always look at people as trustworthy, so I never questioned that he might be being fraudulent or acting in a distrustful manner.'

'But I'd just had enough. I realised something was going on because I kept seeing the platform and the money in there, but he wouldn't let me get it out.'

'He' was Caroline's trading account manager, Sam Davies. Except he wasn't. Sam Davies didn't exist.

Yet Caroline thought she had been corresponding with Davies, who presented himself as an experienced investor, for months as he managed her crypto 'investments'.

What had actually happened was 'Sam Davies' was stealing her money, bit by bit, in a sophisticated investment scam.

Finding out she was set to lose her high paying job at Salesforce as a result of the pandemic, Caroline wanted to make sure she could make up for the incoming shortfall.

She stumbled on an advert for a platform called NuxTrade, and like so many others, was drawn in by an apparent endorsement from a financial expert that was fake. 

She initially invested just £250 via a crypto platform.

Caroline was promptly contacted by Davies, who claimed he was based in Zurich and would speak about his luxurious lifestyle along with the success of his supposed clients.

Still somewhat apprehensive, Caroline at the time checked online reviews and found there were no negative comments about them.

The investments appeared to be performing well and Caroline decided to put more money into the platform.

With her fund seemingly growing, Caroline was motivated to continue increasing her investments, eventually selling her Isa and investment holdings to reinvest into NuxTrade's platform. 

This is a common tactic in this type of scam - making it look like 'investments' are growing, to encourage an even bigger stake.  

But Davies pushed it even further, and persuaded her that smart investors leveraged money they had borrowed instead of their own funds.

Caroline subsequently took out five loans, amounting to more than £100,000.

The scammer even allowed her to withdraw some of her investment, starting with £250 - another common tactic to make it look like money is easy to access.

She later withdrew £1,000 and then a £2,500 sum. However, when Caroline requested larger withdrawals they were denied - Davies said company policy prevented her from having full access to her funds. 

Davies, previously so affable, becoming impatient and then aggressive, dismissing Caroline's concerns as 'negative' and 'pessimistic'. 

'One night, in the middle of the night,I realised I had invested £300,000…it sounded completely ridiculous.'

That was when Caroline understood that she had been deceived by a scammer.

While Caroline had seen her investments increasing in value of the course of a number of months, the reality is her money had never been invested in cryptocurrency at all.

As crypto has become more popular, scammers are increasingly using it as a pretext to do what they have been doing for years: lure victims in with offers that seem too good to be true, and then take the money and run when they fall for it. 

This is exactly what happened to Caroline. The figures she could see on the NuxTrade platform were falsely showing that her invested cash was growing in value.

In reality, Sam Davies had never invested the money, but instead had strung his victim along, convincing her to continue investing more money into the fraudulent platform.

The result of the scam was no laughing matter. Aside from the financial implications, which were serious, Caroline said she couldn't sleep, she was struggling to concentrate on her job search and when she did have interviews she was performing terribly.

'All at the back of my mind I was thinking I'm a single mum. I've got two kids, I'm the main provider. I am the only provider. I have a mortgage,' she said. 

The experience had a significant effect on her mental health, causing anxiety and stress.

'I try to compartmentalise it,' she says, 'because if I keep thinking about it, it takes me back, and that's not a good place to go.'

'When I look back on it, it still makes me feel completely stupid. I cannot believe it when I replay it, I can't.'

Caroline did not try to recover the funds directly from her bank, instead she found Wealth Recovery Solicitors online and contacted them about her situation.

Under rules that came in last year, banks are now only required to refund customers up to £85,000 lost due to scams. 

This figure was watered down from a previous £415,000, but refunds are now mandatory rather than voluntary. 

However, these refunds are only required for authorised push payment scams - incidents where victims send money directly to scammers. 

If, like in Caroline's case, the money is deposited via a crypto wallet, a bank is not required to refund the victim. 

The firm was eventually able to recover the full amount through her bank, but she still has debt to pay off and expects it to impact her future finances, setting her retirement back by a number of years.

'I got money back from my bank, but really the people that should be paying is the scammers, so I do feel guilty about that,' she said.

'I'm glad there are companies like WRS out there that actually help people because I couldn't have imagined having to go through all of the procedures that they went through, feeling the way I did, in order to get my money back.'

She added: 'I had to pay an awful lot of money for the service, but I wouldn't have been able to do it myself.'

WRS did not disclose its fee structure but its terms state its fees are based on the amount of time spent dealing with each case, as well as associated court costs.

Fees for scam recovery services can be within the double digit percentages.  

Joshua Chinn, director and co-founder of WRS, said: 'We're truly glad we could help Caroline, but sadly, we see far too many cases just like hers.

'Scammers are skilled at spotting people when they're feeling vulnerable, and they use charm, urgency and a false sense of exclusivity to draw victims in.'

Today, NuxTrade's website is still in operation. A quick Google search of the firm brings up a warning from the Financial Conduct Authority warning it is not an authorised or registered firm.

It goes on to add: 'This firm may be providing financial services or products without our authorisation. You should avoid dealing with this firm and beware of potential scams.'

There are also a string of warnings from other 'customers' on the NuxTrade Trustpilot - although nothing has been posted there since February 2024. 

A continuing nightmare for Caroline

Caroline says the experience has fundamentally changed her as a person.

She said: 'I'm now less trusting of people and that's sad because I think the world that we live in now means that we can't be as trusting as one would like.'

This lack of trust, though, might have stood Caroline in good stead.

Just a month ago, she received a call from a wealth recovery company promising they would help her to recover the funds that were still supposedly sitting in her NuxTrade account.

Caroline contacted Wealth Recovery Solicitors and asked if they thought the call she had received was a scam. They said it was.

In fact, the firm that contacted Caroline, Fraud Control Intelligence Ltd, says it is 'officially approved and authorised to collaborate with Interpol's Cybercrime Department and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in combating global cyber threats.'

An Interpol Spokesperson said: 'Interpol is not connected in any way with this group and no such authorisation has been given.'

The FCA told This is Money that Fraud Control Intelligence is not authorised by the FCA, and confirmed it has published an alert about the firm.

The is no Companies House listing for Fraud Control Intelligence Ltd.  

Falling for a scam once might, at last, have prevented Caroline from becoming a victim again – for most people though, they have no such experience to trigger the red flags.

'I work in a global tech company, I've got a senior role,' Caroline said, 'If I can get scammed like this because I'm just a decent, honest and trustworthy person, then there are so many people out there that could be scammed too.'

*Name changed upon request