Date Received: 2022-05-14
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I had opened a Wallet on Coinbase. I wanted to invest some money, when I joined a smart mining pool. I initially placed {$16000.00} in the pool, and within a week it had disappeared. I called Coinbase to report the matter immediately after I noticed the money was missing, and they asked me if I had shared my security key with anyone, and I said I had not. They said that no one had access to that wallet, but they would investigate the matter for me to try and get my money back. I had told them that I had joined a smart mining pool, but they did not say anything to warn me about that that it could possibly be fraud, they simply said nothing, other than they would investigate and they put a freeze on my account so no one could access it, put money in or take it out. The next day I received a phone call from someone saying they were from Coinbase, and said that the transaction was legit, that they were running the smart mining pool that I had joined, and that they had taken the funds and moved them to another account, and that if I would invest another {$50000.00}, I would receive my money back that had been taken, along with double interest, the reason being was to promote their company with more assets. I tried to call Coinbase back to see if this was legit, and I was not told anything at all, other than they hadnt heard about it. Again, I was not warned about anything, I was not told to look out for anything that this could possibly be a scam, and then Coinbase allowed my account to be unfrozen, at which point I invested the money and lost all of it as well. Coinbase refuses to accept any responsibility or help me in anyway. I am willing to accept the loss on the first investment of the XXXX, but I have asked that the other XXXX be returned, because I feel that they were negligent, and did not help me or warn me of any dangers. They will not respond to my complaints they will not respond to anything at this point, and I am seeking help in this matter. It started on XX/XX/XXXX, I had the first initial I taken about XX/XX/XXXX, at that point I called Coinbase, and I lost the rest by XX/XX/XXXX. I was told the only way to get my initial investment back, was to invest another XXXX. I cant get help from anyone in this matter, it has caused me a great deal of financial harm.
Company Response:
State: OH
Zip: 442XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-05-13
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Subissue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/2022 at XXXX hours, my Coinbase XXXX XXXX XXXX card was charged {$54.00} USD. The transaction went through. There were XXXX declined transactions after that, for XXXX ( XXXX hours ) and XXXX ( XXXX hours ). All eastern standard time. I opened a dispute with Coinbase the same day. I spoke with support on the phone the and they advised I would get my money back. I locked my card and requested they send me a new card. On XX/XX/2022 at XXXX hours, I received the following email from Coinbase : " '' '' '' [ Reply ] Case # XXXX - [ Coinbase ] Re : Service Dispute Fraud - XXXX ( {$54.00} USD ) Hello XXXX, We've completed our investigation of your dispute for the transaction of {$54.00} made on XX/XX/2022, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Unfortunately, the chargeback was rejected by the network for the following reason : - Can not initiate chargeback on a verified VISA transaction. As a result, we will be closing your claim. Regards, Coinbase Support ref : XXXX : ref " '' '' '' My card was never stolen. It was in my possession at all times. I had this happen with XXXX XXXX XXXX several years ago and they refunded my money without question. It looks like coinbase/XXXX won't do the same. I hope you can help. Also, I contacted the merchant. They're willing to investigate. See the attached screenshot.
Company Response:
State: MD
Zip: 21113
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-05-12
Issue: Confusing or missing disclosures
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: Due to account restrictions, lost over {$60000.00}
Company Response:
State: NV
Zip: 89147
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-12
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-05-06
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: i first learned about cryptocurrency investing in XXXX of 2021. XXXX said that Coinbase was the most legit place to invest. i XXXX the company and called the number. the man i spoke to had a heavy XXXX accent, i could almost not understand him, he set up the accounts and apps and my bank wired XXXX $ to purchase mostly ethereum. i can only find XXXX $ of my money in the accounts he set up. i called coinbase to complain and they can see the transaction of my money coming in and then maybe a day later sent out to the scammer. coinbase claims they have no idea how to identify this person and i find that highly unbelevible.
Company Response:
State: NC
Zip: 287XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-05-06
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: The company ( Coinbase ) created a 12 word seed phrase password without emailing me the password in XX/XX/2021. They then logged me out of my account the day before the value of my portfolio was expecting a jump in value and will not allow me to log back in without this new seed phrase that they created saying that they don't have access and can't send it to me via email. They should not be allowed to not have a mechanism for restoring these passwords in this day and age especially one that they themselves created.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 33414
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-05-05
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/2022 I logged in to my Coinbase account, then went to take a shower when getting out and looking at the phone Coinbase site I noticed that someone tried to make a transaction I immediately called because their was no transaction and they still can't find it but have sold my crypto to pay XXXX for a transaction that they said didn't go through and have sold XXXX of my crypto but I still have nothing to show for it, they said the account have been compromised but say it's my fault, by not resolving the issue.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 94582
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-05-06
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing your mobile wallet account
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I made a deposit through my bank to Coinbase to buy XXXX XXXX. At the time of the deposit, Coinbase informed me that there would be a hold on my deposit for the funds to clear, and the money would be available to withdraw or to buy crypto on XX/XX/2022. On XX/XX/2022, I opened my account to check the status of everything, and there was a message that my account was restricted and I would not be able to withdraw any funds for 43 days. I contacted customer service and continued to get form letter responses and Coinbase continued to refuse to tell me why my account was restricted and would not release my funds. I did nothing wrong. The funds were transferred in and stayed there for the entire 10 days. The money has cleared my bank account so theres no valid reason for Coinbase to hold my funds and refuse to release them to me.
Company Response:
State: TX
Zip: 77535
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-05-05
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Subissue: Card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase or transfer
Consumer Complaint: This is in relation to the The Coinbase Card issued by XXXX, XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX, persuant to a license from XXXX XXXX XXXX & powered by XXXX. At the time of this submission, I have 3 transactions from 2 different vendors that have been " pending '' since XX/XX/XXXX which is over 40 days ago, and also two from XX/XX/XXXX & XX/XX/XXXX which are now nearly 30 days as pending. I have contacted Coinbase 's Customer Support for their card to ask why these aren't posted transactions and initially they made excuses saying it would be because of the merchant and I would have to contact them to clear it on their end. 4 of these 5 particular transactions are from XXXX, who I contacted about this and they told me these transactions have already been voided or posted on their end within a couple days, and that it is definitely on my banks end if they're still pending, which I already knew was the case because I have many more XXXX transactions that have occured after these ones that went from pending to posted within 24 hours of making them, and I wouldn't even have been allowed to request more rides if I had previously unsettled payments due to them still. I relayed XXXX response to Coinbase Support and I would receive emails from their " Specialists '' which mostly have been genetic template responses that didn't even have anything to do with the issue I am complaining about, which is simply for them to update the transactions so that either I am returned to me my money that was placed on a hold, or that I received my cash rewards back for the purchases. The lack of relevance a lot of these emails have shown makes me believe I am not even dealing with human customer service and simply being responded to by XXXX. Customer Service Agent software pretending to be people. I find it odd that their Card Customer Service can be contacted by phone, which everyone their has a distinctly XXXX accent so I assume might be based at foreign call center these jobs have been outsourced to ... and they can't do much besides escalate these issues to their " Case Management Teams and Specialists '' and when you ask to talk to them directly you're told they have no phone number and can only be contacted by email, and to wait until they email me, which when they do is often not even relevant to the issue. This was a similar issue I had with them a handful of times last year when I would stay at hotels and the hotels placed a deposit hold on the coinbase card and when I checked out, they would release the hold within 1 to 2 days, but every single time which was at least 5 or 6 times, coinbase would keep the transaction as pending for 30 days without fail, longer if I didn't keep calling to bug them about it, before returning my money and always blaming the merchant hotels despite the hotels confirming otherwise if I had called before the XXXX day. The only logical conclusion I can come to for why this keeps happening is because perhaps they want to take advantage of a situation and keep customer funds for their own liquidity to make money and interest off of when their customers should and could be doing it if they wanted to as soon as the merchant releases the funds. And while something like {$100.00} being held for 30 days doesn't sound like it would be worth it for a publicly traded company to bother with to make a little interest, if you multiplied {$100.00} a month by the XXXX or so verified users they have, they can certainly make a lot of money by holding the money of customers for excessive lengths despite merchants already releasing funds back. I have contacted then multiple times over the last week about this, and everyone I talk to gives me some kind of run around and says they can't do anything from where they sit and inevitably pawn my issue off to the " specialists '' who send irrelevant emails and then respond with excuses saying they are working on the issue, which is all very convenient when the longer it takes the more they can benefit from holding that liquidity. It is XX/XX/XXXX right now.. there should be no excuses or no issue requiring weeks and teams and specialists to resolve.. updating a transaction from pending to posted is typically done by the next day..not the next month or month and a half.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 92679
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-05-05
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: How Coinbase Global , Inc. XXXX XXXX XXXX Allowed Someone to Steal XXXX XXXX Worth of Investments from my XXXX XXXX On XXXX XXXXXX/XX/2022, my cell phone, email & Coinbase wallet were all hacked. At around XXXX PM I turned on my cell phone and realized it wasnt working- I couldnt make any calls and wasnt receiving any messages. When I got in contact with XXXX XXXX ( using my XXXX phone ), they had advised someone earlier in the day asked to switch the XXXX from my XXXX XXXX XXXX to their XXXX XXXX. I asked the representative who had called in to do so- they wouldnt provide any details, besides for admitting that the call came from a number that was not affiliated with our plan. I was shocked to hear how XXXX XXXX allowed someone to hijack my XXXX & take control of my cell phone number, without having my physical phone, which was in my possession. I had advised theres no way for the individual to know my PIN # ( which they make ME confirm every time I call ), so how was this person able to do so? The representative said they dont necessarily need the pin ; they can provide an email as well. What kind of security measures do they have in place for these kinds of things? We see the # is coming from a strange location, maybe its a fraud. The person is calling from an unknown number, thats not associated with the plan, maybe its a fraud. The person is asking to switch to an XXXX XXXX, but we see theres many other devices XXXX had bought and would have asked to use instead and being that we dont see he had ever used or bought this model phone before. They didnt send a single notification, email, text, etc. to anyone else on the plan, alerting of this change. Below is part of an article I found that explains how the fraud was conducted : Scammers abuse the support services of mobile network operator call centers by calling them and posing as customers to get a new XXXX card. The victim doesn't know a new XXXX card is connected to their phone number, which gives attackers the access they need. " Once the XXXX is swapped, the victim 's calls, texts, and other data are diverted to the criminal 's device. This access allows criminals to send 'Forgot Password ' or XXXX XXXX ' requests to the victim 's email and other online accounts associated with the victim 's mobile telephone number, '' the XXXX XXXX XXXX warns. " Using SMS-based two-factor authentication, mobile application providers send a link or one-time passcode via text to the victim 's number, now owned by the criminal, to access accounts. The criminal uses the codes to login and reset passwords, gaining control of online accounts associated with the victim 's phone profile. '' I finally regained access to my email and didnt see anything strange, until I looked in my trash folder. There I found XXXX emails, within a few minutes of each other, of all the transactions this person had done on my Coinbase account. While on the phone with XXXX XXXX, I had also called Coinbase to lock my account. However, the damage was already done. A day later, when I regained access to my Coinbase account, I was able to see all the trades this scammer had done. Through Coinbase, the scammer had transferred all my crypto investment to XXXX ( I never owned any XXXX mostly others & ETH ). The hacker then transferred the new XXXX holdings into my Coinbase Pro account ( which is supposed to be even more secure than Coinbase ). From there he had sent fractions of the total XXXX holdings & in XXXX ( clear fraud & suspicious ) transactions sent it all to unknown addresses/ wallets. Coinbase is considered ( which I now know is far from the truth ) the safest & most secure crypto currency exchange for protection. Its a public company & is XXXX insured. I had put most security measures in place- the only way to access my Coinbase was through XXXX factor authentication- every time I access the app, it sends me a single use code to my cell phone, and I must enter that code into the app. The hacker had control of my cell phone #, so the message now went to his phone. Ive also added Face ID authentication, and not sure how this person was able to get around this. Theres also a XXXX digit code thats needed to login to my Coinbase XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX have this code written down anywhere ( only in my head ) and doubt the scammer was able to know this code out. Doesnt a company need to have proper security measures in place to become a public company? How are they FDIC insured? Thousands of transactions, within seconds of each other.. Did they not realize this was a computer program doing these transactions and have the account locked? Ive been on Coinbase for several years now & my total trading activity never came close to XXXX transactions, let alone in just a minutes time. Around {$70000.00} was stolen. The scammer offloaded all the XXXX in hundreds of transactions, {$15.00} at a time. Isnt it suspicious?? Who would do so many transactions to the same wallet? Isnt it obvious a fraud occurred? Below is XXXX of XXXX transactions Coinbase allowed a scammer to withdraw from my Coinbase XXXX XXXX my entire life savings .... fee : XXXX XXXX Destination Address : XXXX Transaction Hash : XXXX Coinbase refuses to help and there's no one to call, sorry, we can only interact via email. Ive sent multiple emails and all they say is we are looking into it, theres nothing we can do once the money has left your wallet and to call the authorities. I went to the authorities, and they need me to provide the hashtags/ transactions to where the crypto was sent. I asked Coinbase to investigate this for me, as I tried every way to do it myself on Coinbase Pro, and they responded, thats going to be very hard to do. As to how they let clear fraud and suspicious activity happen is beyond me. But maybe they dont care, as they made a lot of money on these transaction fees. They really need to investigated and held responsible. They do not have proper measures in place and soon enough it's going to happen to many more people.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 11223
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-05-04
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I am a victim of Fraud as I was under a lot of pressure and coerced through very sophisticated methods specifically created by these criminals. I reiterate that there was no trading account and no trading actually took place. This was all a scam and the recipient simply pocketed the money
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 33028
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-05-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A