Embarrassment washed over me
Embarrassment washed over me. I met someone on Telegram who promised to teach me smart contract staking. The scammer even sent me 13.68 BTC with which I registered and deposited into this website, showed me how to trade, and I made some profit and even withdrew 18.29 BTC. The scammer then advised that I invest more so I can get greater rewards. So I took out money borrowed from family for $48,413 and deposited it, followed all the instructions and was able to take my balance to $281,554. I was so excited, so I decided to withdraw $245,469, but was told the amount is too large, I would need to pay a 16% liquidity release fee ($39,275). I quickly took another loan and paid it since I was sure withdrawal was possible because I had withdrawn in the past. Then they demanded another 34% secondary tax, which was when it dawned on me that it was a con. I explained to my credit provider, and he referred me to a on-chain tracking firm (F'iscop-Advisor), who started tracing the movements of the BTC until it was sold on Kraken P2P. The scammers' bank info was obtained, and he was caught, and the BTC reversed.