The Belgian regulator has warned the public about seven companies
engaging in “recovery room fraud.” It is a form of fraudulent activity
where scammers target vulnerable individuals by promising to help recover lost
funds, but instead, they take advantage once more.

“Recovery Room Scam”

According to the Financial Services and Markets
Authority (FSMA), these companies target people who have already been victims
of investment fraud by offering them assistance in recovering their losses.

The regulator identified several companies suspected
of operating recovery room scams, including Akin (www.akin.com.co), Bitcity (https://bitcity.cc/ and https://bitcity.ac/), Concord Services (http://concord-services.org/),
Ledgible (https://ledgible.io/), Recovery AI (https://recovery-ai.org/), Trade Control (www.tradecontrol.org), and World Blockchain Organization (https://uwnbo.info/; euwbo.com).

In a “recovery room scam,” fraudsters demand upfront fees for so-called administrative or legal costs and, in some cases, trick
victims into granting remote access to their computers, further endangering
their finances.

“Victims of investment fraud are often targeted twice
by the same fraudsters: first the latter perpetrate investment fraud, and
thereafter, recovery room fraud,” the FSMA explained. “The persons behind the
investment fraud may also sell their victims’ contact information on to other
fraudsters. Anyone who has ever been a victim of investment fraud needs to be
aware that fraudsters may target their victims again or sell their personal
data on to others.”

The FSMA noted that victims are often approached via
unsolicited phone calls or emails. Fraudsters sometimes pose as law firms, accountants, or even official financial authorities and use the names of
legitimate companies or institutions.

Digital Wallets

The scam follows a familiar pattern: fraudsters
request payment for administrative tasks or tax fees, which are purely
fictitious. In other instances, they pose as good Samaritans offering free
services, only to install spyware via remote desktop applications like Anydesk,
granting them access to the victim’s bank accounts.

Fraudsters may also convince victims to create wallets
on cryptocurrency platforms, which they then exploit to steal funds. Regardless
of the method, the outcome is the same—victims lose even more money, often with
no way to recover it.

Worryingly, victims of investment fraud are often
targeted twice. First, fraudsters carry out the initial scam; then, they return
with the pretense of offering recovery services. The FSMA warns that
information about victims of previous scams can be sold to other fraudsters,
making these individuals even more vulnerable.