btc-cloudmining.org is a scam. I probed around their business for a few weeks to confirm my original suspicion that they are a scam, and indeed they are. Do not "invest" any Bitcoin there, you will ultimately lose.
Long version:
It all starts with an Instagram message from a supposed "agent".. The agent is supposedly a crypto trader who will double, triple or even quadruple your money within days.
The big profits only come when you invest the big amounts. $1000+USD.
Being cautious of these inquires (as I get about 3 per week offering the same thing), I decided to let me curiosity guide me a little.
First of all, all the people have fake names and profiles. Every IG account looks the same: i.e. Created within the last few months, some generic (probably stolen) images, and a bunch of money and crypto related images. The very sophisticated ones even pay for low quality followers and likes to make it look legit. But if you look closely, they are all the same crap.
They pretend to be in the US, with American names. However, their writing and response time is clearly foreign. They wake up when you go to sleep, they answer vaguely and make up excuses, etc.
My agent said he was in PA, USA. I said I was in NY we should meet! Of course that never happened, because he's not in PA.
Anyway, they may point you to a site where you will manage these deposits and withdrawals. Some sites will go so far as to ask for identification, others are more basic, like this one. Pretty easy to sign up.
I wanted to first determine if the actual platform functioned. As a web developer myself, I know that scammers are usually lazy to pull off a legit website or software.
I signed up and chose their little plan. Plan 1. 120% return in 24 hours. Basically, you鈥檒l make about $20-$25 on a hundred-dollar investment within 24 hours.
When it comes time to deposit, you must use bitcoin. So all those badges showing that they accept all kinds of money, is BS. In fact, a lot of the basic appearances and links on the site doesn鈥檛 work. The scam is only half way done right. So I sent $75 in bitcoin to the address that the platform tells you to. I was ready to lose it. I wanted to see what鈥檚 grilling on the other site of this joke.
Sure enough, 24 hours later there鈥檚 $15 profit in my profile. I create the withdrawal to see if I鈥檒l actually get the full $90 back and make a profit. Nothing. I contact support, and realize right away that the platform does not nothing automatically. Support was going to 鈥渘otify the finance department鈥? After a bunch of back and forth and the horrible customer service rep blaming me for not doing something right, he sent me the money.
To make a long story short, I sent in the $90 to reinvest, and once the profits arrived, created the withdraw. Didn鈥檛 show up. Contacted support, after a bunch of back and forth again, they sent it. I also had to create a new account, as the rep insisted something was wrong. 鈥渘obody else was experiencing issues鈥濃€? Let鈥檚 be real. I build software and website for a living. I smell these issues from a mile away. The software doesn鈥檛 do anything. They have clowns behind the scenes manually creating this withdrawals and deposits. The problem is, they wait for the big bucks. I reinvested a couple times and even added $75 more of my own money until I reached $230. $150 investment and $80 in profits.
The money did not show up. Tried reaching out nothing. The rep blamed it on finance issues in the office, etc. All the while, I鈥檓 in contact with my 鈥渁gent鈥?on WhatsApp. He doesn鈥檛 know that I鈥檓 talking directly with the platform rep. He tells me after a few days that 鈥淚'm sorry the funds will not come. So in that case we should reinvest and continue with trade, but before then you'll have to still upgrade your account so that everything will go smoothly from now鈥?to which I replied: 鈥淲hat do you mean "funds will not come" ? And what do you mean "upgrade account" ?鈥?he replied 鈥?. The account is due for upgrade, and for that reason the withdrawal process can not be processed. 2. Upgrading is required to be done by every investor once in the platform and I hope you understand this.鈥?So I asked 鈥淲hat does upgrade consist of?鈥?he writes 鈥淭he Upgrade consist of a little fee which has to be cleared so that trading can continue and you receive your profits in your account鈥?So I鈥檓 like 鈥淗ow much is the little fee?鈥?he answered 鈥淭he little fee is supposed to be $1500 but I'll do it for you $1000鈥?
Basically the agent wanted $1000 now. Otherwise they wouldn鈥檛 release the funds. Little did he know that I had already spoken to a support agent on the site itself, the same guy who reluctantly sent me my money in the past and convinced him that I have $520 that I would like to add to the $230, so that I can reinvest $750. He bought the bait and sent me the money. Not before trying to get me to 鈥渟end in the $520 and we will credit your account with the $230鈥? which btw is something that they didn鈥檛 want to do a few days prior when I suggested it for reinvestment. In fact, they made it clear that you must withdraw all funds to reinvest.
Finally I snuck out my $230 before telling them they won鈥檛 be getting anything else from me, and saved myself from losing $150. My agent is still waiting for his $1000 upgrade fee. Hehehe
There鈥檚 so much more that happned and so many conversations that I can quote to prove their pettiness and lies, but it鈥檚 pointless. Just know that these guys will allow you to make some micro withdraws in order to pull you in. That鈥檚 the only reason they even allowed the funds I got back, because I kept promising that I鈥檓 going to invest large. Liers, unprofessional, the numbers on the dashboard don鈥檛 add up, the amounts they send you aren鈥檛 exact, the agents who 鈥渨ork for them鈥?are scammers who will try to get you to send them money, the platform doesn鈥檛 work, the customer support is horrible. They will blame you for everything and endleslly make up excuses as to why the money wasn鈥檛 sent to you, etc. etc. The list is endless. Do yourself a favor and stay far far away.