A resident of Oskemen transferred around 2 million tenge to scammers who promised high returns from trading cryptocurrency through a brokerage account.
According to the Telegram channel "Halyqstan", when the woman tried to withdraw her "profit," she was told that an urgent additional payment of 1 million tenge was required to deliver the funds via a cash collection service.
Only after this did she seek help from her brother, who convinced her not to send any more money and to contact the police.
According to the woman, the scheme was presented as a part-time job offer: open a brokerage account, buy and sell cryptocurrency, and keep the difference.
"I was in contact with a financial analyst; we communicated via Telegram. He advised me on when to buy and sell certain stocks. He showed me some documents and referred to international law. I logged into my personal account and saw that my balance was growing. When it reached 10 million tenge, I decided to cash it out," she said.
According to her, she was told that the money would be delivered by cash collectors, but she needed to pay for cargo insurance, intermediary services, and express delivery — a total of 1 million tenge.
Furthermore, as the "analyst" claimed, the payment had to be made urgently — before 7:00 PM — otherwise the price would increase. The woman was even sent an invoice from BRINKS Cash Collection Service LLP.
The document raised several questions: the total amount was given in roubles, whereas the beginning of the invoice listed the currency in tenge; the legal address referred to an organisation in Aktau, while the stamp belonged to a branch of "Halyk Bank" in Karaganda.
After speaking with her brother, the woman refused to take out a new loan and contacted the police. The Department of Internal Affairs of the East Kazakhstan Region confirmed that this was a fraudulent scheme. They also stated that recovering the transferred funds would be extremely difficult.
Meanwhile, the National Bank had warned back in February that the company "BRINKS Cash Collection Service" was impersonating another firm and using its licence.
"The Kazakhstani company has nothing to do with the foreign cash collection service The Brink's Company. BRINKS illegally used other people's data and posted it on its website. Thus, BRINKS created a false impression of its activities. The National Bank warns of the risks when entering into contracts with such organisations and entrusting valuables to them. Citizens of Kazakhstan are advised to use only those services provided by organisations that hold an official licence," the National Bank reported.
It is noted that the current list of organisations licensed to carry out cash collection activities is published on the National Bank's website.