icexas.com, iceax.com, icextee.top, icetrad.cc

Scam Type

Crypto Investment Scam Potentially Impersonating Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)

Red Flag

Use of multiple fake websites mimicking a well-known financial institution.
Fabricated fees required to withdraw funds.
Disappearing websites and total communication cut-off once the victims complied.
Coordinated manipulation via social media.

Details

The victim joined a trading blog on social media, where he met two individuals—“Mr. Charlie” and “Tina”—claiming to represent Fitbela Epro Limited, a UK-based Forex trading firm. They persuaded him to open a Forex trading account on the Meta 5 Trading platform and promised high returns. The victim initially invested $10,000 and was told the account had grown significantly, prompting him to invest even more. Following their direction, he eventually sent a total of $92,000 via wire transfer. Later, they claimed his account was now worth $200,000. When the victim attempted to withdraw his funds, he was told he needed to pay $87,000 in taxes before any money could be released. At that point, he recognized it as a scam.

Scammer Behaviour

These scammers used layered social engineering: starting from casual chats, building fake group credibility, then reinforcing the illusion with staged profits and live trading “demonstrations.” By initially allowing a small profit to be seen, they baited victims into taking out massive loans. Their entire strategy revolved around trust-building and then introducing roadblocks, like verification and tax fees, at the withdrawal stage.

Potential Lost Funds

$154,000

Final Outcome

Both victims lost access to their accounts and never recovered their funds. The scammers shut down communication across all platforms and the associated websites disappeared.