Daniel, a software engineer from San Diego, found a CFD platform through a sponsored post. The dashboard showed steady gains, so over six weeks he wired in $48,000. When he asked to withdraw, the platform demanded a 15% “liquidity release fee” first. He paid part of it, the demands grew, and his “account manager” went quiet.
Where it went wrong
The growth only ever existed on the platform’s own screen. The “release fee” was the real product — a way to extract more from someone who had already deposited.
What we did
- Mapped every wire and card payment and the wallets the platform routed them to.
- Traced the on-chain hops to two exchanges where the funds were converted and held.
- Filed documented recall requests with his bank and notices to the receiving exchanges.
- Coordinated a chargeback on the card portion with a full evidence pack.
The outcome
Because Daniel stopped paying and acted quickly, most of the wired balance was traced to a single off-ramp and recalled, and the earliest card payments came back through dispute — 71% recovered. Not every case returns that much, and we never promise a number. But his instinct to stop and ask is what made it possible.
Read the full breakdown in our case studies, or tell us what happened for an honest read on your own odds.