Patrick Duffy – a certified public accountant (CPA) – is just one of several people in the Bay Area (San Francisco, CA) that appears to have fallen victim to heavy crypto fraud purportedly being conducted by a firm known as 7 On Your Side.
Patrick Duffy Has Lost Some Cash
Duffy commented in a recent interview that he’s been involved in digital currency for a little while, though he hasn’t actually invested in any specific assets. Rather, he’s put money into crypto and blockchain-based businesses, thinking the stock market is safer to play. He started trading small and things began looking up, though he didn’t have much time to plunk a lot of money into things as 2022 was arguably the worst year on record for digital assets. He said:
It went down, and it was going further down. So, I said, ‘Well, I think it’s time to cut my losses.’
Initially, Duffy only put about $500 into the above-mentioned company. Within nine months, that small investment had fallen to less than half at $230. He decided it was time to pull his money out, though he wound up losing another $40 to fees. In all, he forfeited more than $300 and got to keep $190 of his initial $500. It was a sad and depressing experience.
He commented that he was disappointed and shocked by how much he was charged in making his exit. He said:
I figured the ease of going in should be the ease of going out.
Duffy isn’t alone, and it looks like many people are now complaining of how much money they’ve lost after they tried to make withdrawals via 7 On Your Side. One user stated:
Since the (January) 4th, I have not been able to withdraw any funds. The company support personnel are telling me that I have to pay a security deposit of ten percent because my account’s under review for fraudulent activity.
Another user wrote:,
To take out $1,000, $10,000 or $100,000 or $300,000, I first have to pay them $30,000 in advance.
This is a classic red flag often seen in things like romance scams. People can put their money into the platform but getting it out is a different story.
This Is Getting More Common
Many of the complaints have been reported to the Consumer Federation of California, which is run by its executive director Robert Herrell. He said these complaints have only grown in recent weeks, and he predicts the problem will get worse as more scams enter the fray. He mentioned in a statement:
This is really an industry where it’s sort of ‘buyer beware’ on steroids, and literally when FTX collapsed, because of the protections that people in New York had, New Yorkers were better protected when FTX collapsed than California was.
Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/patrick-duffy-is-one-of-many-to-have-allegedly-fallen-victim-to-crypto-fraud/