The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has received a complaint from a California resident regarding www.hemexs.com, an offshore cryptocurrency trading platform that promising guaranteed returns on investments.

A California resident told DFPI she involved in a romance scam that ended up costing her thousands of dollars. The person she lived with and thought she could trust convinced her to buy cryptocurrency on the website www.hemexs.com. He convinced her to buy regularly to make a steady profit. When she lost money, he told her to upgrade her account to $100,000 and she would get a bonus of $30,000. When she said she didn’t have the money, he told her to borrow the money, and guaranteed she would make a profit. Her account did show a profit after that, but when she tried to withdraw the money, the customer service at the website told her the account was frozen, and that she would need to pay $21,500 to lift the freeze. Later she realized the website was a scam. These allegations have not been verified by DFPI.

This appears to be what is commonly called an “Advance Fee scheme,” which can take many forms, as discussed here:  https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/advance-fee-schemes.

The DFPI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services. To check whether an investment or financial service provider is licensed in California, consumers may contact the Department for questions or inquiries at ask.dfpi@dfpi.ca.gov or call toll-free at (866) 275-2677. If a consumer believes a person or company has violated state law or acted improperly regarding a consumer financial product or service, they may file a formal complaint with the DFPI at https://dfpi.ca.gov/file-a-complaint/.