LAFAYETTE — Miles McQueary of Lafayette thought he was doing what was best for his family.
He invested more than $9,000 in a cryptocurrency website. He lost it all and what was their life savings.
“I lost everything we had,” said McQueary. “It sucks.”
Cryptocurrency is a form of digital asset and is created by companies or individuals, usually taking the form of a virtual coin or token. Digital assets are intangible and generally exist only electronically, according to the Indiana Attorney General’s office.
McQueary was drawn to cryptocurrency by an advertisement he saw on social media.
“It was talking about Bitcoin, where you trade from one platform to another and there’s a difference in price and you’ll gain that difference in price per however much Bitcoin you have,” said McQueary.
McQueary invested in a website called BitXF, also known as Bit-X Financial Corp.
He said he was getting a return on his investment, or at least that’s what the website showed.
“It was showing we were making money,” said McQueary.
After two weeks of watching his money grow on the website, McQueary encountered a problem.
“I went to do my normal withdrawal to send it back to my crypto account and it said failure on the BitXF account,” said McQueary.
McQueary said he was locked out of his crypto account, and when he contacted BitXF they told him he was suspected of violating international anti-money laundering laws.
BitXF told McQueary to send personal information and more money.
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