加密货运骗局：我如何在与今天早上的主持人本·谢弗（Ben Shephard）争吵中观看了电台2 DJ Sara Cox的“幕后”视频后，如何在一个复杂的骗局中损失了200,000英镑

Susannah Jowitt是上个月她有史以来最富有的 - 她的投资以及加密货币总计93,984英镑

Last month I was the richest I'd ever been. I had investments totalling £63,372, plus cryptocurrency totalling £93,984. I was giddy with excitement thinking of paying off my mortgage with change left over for a winter sun holiday with my husband.

上个月，我是我有史以来最富有的人。我的投资总计为63,372英镑，加上加密货币总计93,984英镑。我很兴奋地想，想还清我的抵押贷款，而零钱则与我的丈夫一起度过了冬季的假期。

And all this in a few months, from an initial investment of £200 in trading cryptocurrency. How exciting to be immersed in what's described as the new 'gold rush'.

几个月来，所有这些都是从交易加密货币的200英镑投资。沉浸在被描述为新的“淘金热”中多么令人兴奋。

Until, of course, I realised it was a scam and it all came tumbling down. Was I an idiot? You decide.

当然，直到我意识到这是一个骗局，一切都在跌倒。我是个白痴吗？你决定。

Here's where it begins. In July 2024, I watch an Instagram 'behind the scenes' video of Radio 2 DJ Sara Cox in an argument with the This Morning presenter Ben Shephard. 'How dare you close me down on-air like that?' she demands. 'Why shouldn't I tell people about how I made £200,000 in one year if they could too?'

这是它开始的地方。 2024年7月，我在与今天早上的主持人本·谢泼德（Ben Shephard）争吵中观看了电台2 DJ Sara Cox的Instagram“幕后”视频。 “你怎么敢这样在空中关闭我？”她要求。 “为什么我不应该告诉人们我在一年内也赚了200,000英镑？”

Ben Shephard rolls his eyes, 'Because you just can't do that, Sara, it's irresponsible...cryptocurrency isn't for ordinary people, it's for clever cowboys.'

Ben Shephard翻了个白眼，“因为您只是做不到，Sara，这是不负责任的……加密货币不适合普通百姓，而是给聪明的牛仔。”

Sara shakes her head, 'Not with these people at Victory Capital, it's not. They make it easy, they hold your hand. I couldn't believe it myself but it bloody worked!'

萨拉摇了摇头，“不是和这些人一起在Victory Capital中，事实并非如此。他们使它变得容易，握住您的手。我本人简直不敢相信，但是血腥起作用了！

Things are biting financially, so I think it can't harm to check it out. I Google Victory Capital, registered in Austin, Texas, with offices in London and Singapore. I read up about artificial intelligence trading and submit a contact form to see if I'm eligible.

事情在财务上咬人，所以我认为检查它不会造成伤害。我在德克萨斯州奥斯汀注册的Google Victory Capital在伦敦和新加坡设有办事处。我阅读了有关人工智能交易的信息，并提交联系表格，以查看我是否有资格。

I undertake never to invest more than 1 pc of my assets and don't give any detail more personal than my phone number. I 'register' for the minimum investment of £200.

我承诺从不投资我的资产超过1 po，并且没有给任何比我的电话号码更具个性的详细信息。我以200英镑的最低投资为“注册”。

I am duly messaged the next day on WhatsApp by Anthony Sharpe from the London office of Victory Capital and we fix another call a few days later.

第二天，我在伦敦胜利资本办公室的安东尼·夏普（Anthony Sharpe）在WhatsApp上进行了适当的消息，几天后，我们将再次致电。

He sounds American, with a trace of an Asian, possibly Filipino, accent, and is friendly, telling me how much he likes London since relocating from Texas, how he has looked me up and read some of my articles.

他听起来很美，有一段亚洲，可能是菲律宾，口音，很友好，告诉我自从得克萨斯州搬迁以来，他喜欢伦敦，他如何看待我并阅读了我的一些文章。

I say I've looked him up too but can't find him on Instagram or LinkedIn; he explains earnestly that since his whole professional life is digital, he prefers to keep his personal identity out of his digital profile. It sounds credible.

我说我也看着他，但在Instagram或LinkedIn上找不到他。他认真地解释说，由于他的整个职业生涯都是数字化的，因此他更喜欢将自己的个人身份置于数字化的范围之外。听起来可信。

He asks me how much return I want to make on my £200. I go large, to test him. 'I want to make £4,000 because I want to buy my daughter a car.' He laughs. 'Try ten times that – within six months, Susannah!'

他问我想在200英镑上赚多少钱。我走大，测试他。 “我想赚4,000英镑，因为我想给女儿买一辆汽车。”他笑了。 “尝试十倍 - 六个月内，苏珊娜！”

It opens up possibilities that are tempting... for a second. 'Keep your head screwed on,' I warn myself sternly.

它打开了诱人的可能性……一秒钟。我严厉警告自己。

I transferred the £200 to a Victory Capital account and log on, receiving a homepage 'dashboard' full of bar charts, jargon and official-looking regulatory warnings. I don't know what they are but I feel intrepid.

我将200英镑转移到了一个胜利资本帐户中，并登录了，收到了一个装有条形图，行话和外观官方监管警告的主页“仪表板”。我不知道它们是什么，但我感到勇敢。

In July, there is a worldwide IT outage when a botched update by security outfit Crowdstrike takes down nearly 10 million Windows devices. So when I get a server error on the URL for my 'dashboard', Anthony blames it on that and gives me a new link.

7月，当安全装备CrowdStrike的爆炸更新拆除了近1000万个Windows设备时，全世界就有IT中断。因此，当我在“仪表板”的URL上获得服务器错误时，Anthony将其归咎于它，并为我提供了一个新的链接。

There, to my amazement, I see my new balance is the Bitcoin equivalent of £16,773. From an initial £200 stake, it had jumped up to £8,000 and then to £16,773. 'You can buy your daughter that car now,' laughs Anthony over the phone. Golly, I think, maybe this is going to work...

令我惊讶的是，我看到我的新余额是比特币相当于16,773英镑。从最初的200英镑股份开始，它跃升至8,000英镑，然后达到16,773英镑。 “你现在可以买女儿那辆车，”安东尼在电话上笑着说。我认为，Golly也许这会起作用...

I decide to take some of the profits out because the crypto trading 'world' is essentially unregulated. Anthony says UK banks are nervous of Bitcoin transfers so to get the £4,000 I'm cashing in I need to set up trading accounts with a couple of halfway house apps: OKX to open a wallet of Bitcoin that can then be converted by Crypto.com into GBP and, from there, I can transfer the sterling balance into my bank.

我决定将一些利润淘汰，因为加密货币交易“世界”本质上是不受监管的。安东尼说，英国银行对比特币转移感到紧张，因此要获得我兑现的4,000英镑，我需要使用几个中途的房屋应用程序来设置交易帐户：OKX开设一个比特币钱包，然后可以由加密货币转换。 com进入GBP，从那里，我可以将英镑余额转移到我的银行中。

It sounds complicated, with a whiff of tax evasion about it. Anthony reassures me it's just a tax avoidance loophole, nothing illegal.

听起来很复杂，逃税的气味很大。安东尼向我保证，这只是避税漏洞，没有什么非法。

I Google OKX and Crypto.com, both cryptocurrency exchanges which pass the sniff test of Companies House.

我Google oke okx and crypto.com，都是通过公司之家的嗅探测试的加密货币交易所。

Anthony offers to help me through the 'very fiddly' downloading of software on to my computer. 'If you download AnyDesk (a screen-sharing app) on to your laptop, then I can do it for you,' he explains casually.

安东尼（Anthony）愿意通过将软件下载到我的计算机上的“非常贴心”的下载来帮助我。他随便解释说：“如果您将Anydesk（一个屏幕共享应用程序）下载到笔记本电脑上，那么我可以为您做。”

Give control over my laptop to a stranger? Alarm bells ring. 'No, that's OK,' I

将我的笔记本电脑控制给一个陌生人？警报铃响。 “不，没关系，”我