Dallas Man Sues Uknown Singaporean Owner of Coinbestexsite for Stealing Nearly Half a Million
On Wednesday, August 17, 2022, Yongjun Chu filed a fraud complaint against a Singaporean who allegedly owns crypto exchange Coinbestexsite. The filing in the United States District Court For The Northern District Of Texas is entitled ‘Complaint,’ in a case styled as ‘Chu v. John Doe.’ The case number is #3:22-cv-01820.
Chu alleged that the defendant defrauded him of cryptocurrency worth approximately $468,982.95 through the website “coinbestex.site,” which the defendant operates and which purports to be a legitimate online cryptocurrency exchange.
The following are allegations in the filing.
During the course of nearly two months in the spring of 2022, Mr. Chu made crypto investments with the defendant totaling around $154,882.42 (net of some withdrawals). By April 18, 2022, the value of the virtual currency in Mr. Chu’s account had increased to around $398,982.95. Mr. Chu submitted a request with the defendant to withdraw the money on that day. The defendant rejected this proposal and demanded that Mr. Chu first make a payment to Defendant of virtual currency equal to 18 percent of the value of the virtual currency in his account. According to the defendant, the US income tax regulations mandated this payment.
However, the defendant once more refused to release Mr. Chu’s funds after he made the requisite “tax” payment, which was worth about $73,000. This time, the defendant claimed that Mr. Chu’s account had been flagged for questionable activity, lowering his credit score. According to the defendant, Mr. Chu would need to make an additional payment of virtual currency totaling about $40,000.00 to raise his credit score and subsequently authorize the release of the virtual currency in his account. Mr. Chu declined to pay this extra sum out of concern that he would never be able to collect it because the user agreement on the website of the defendant included no mention of credit scores. To date, the defendant has not given back the virtual currency that is still in Mr. Chu’s account.
The complaint states:
“Mr. Chu seeks the recovery of approximately $468,982.95 (equal to the value of the virtual currency in Mr. Chu’s account with Defendant as of the date his withdrawal request and the value of purported tax payment that Mr. Chu made to Defendant) or such other amount as shall be proven at trial and such other relief as the Court deems just property.”
Please contact BlockTribune for access to a copy of this filing.
