Clifford Aaron has been running a financial fraud scheme on Telegram known as Sprout Trade Services. The so-called broker claims to offer far fetched returns and sells a copy trading service where traders can copy or “mirror” Mr. Aaron’s trades.
Mr. Aaron claims to have a monthly return of over 100% and shows screenshots of fake winnings within the telegram group. Mr. Aaron claims he is a 20 year licensed broker with a FINRA profile, although whether the telegram fraudster is indeed Clifford Aaron or impersonating him is yet to be determined.
The way the fraud works is that in order to use his copy trade service, where he trades on your behalf, he explains that the victim must setup an account on a shady exchange called JointGap.com.
Mr. Aaron explains via telegram messaging that in order for users to be able to “copy” his trades they will need to deposit bitcoin into a new JointGap.com account. To do this the victim would need to chat JointGap who would give them a specific wallet address. Once this is done Clifford Aaron says he will “link” the victims JointGap account to his.
Once funds are sent to JointGap.com, Clifford Aaron then claims to begin trading on victims behalf. The victim would then get deposits, usually weekly, into there JointGap Account. Although whether these deposits are real or just fake records is yet to be determined.
The scheme turns sour when victims try to withdraw there money.
The ability to withdraw is turned off on JointGap.com. Support becomes non responsive to chats or emails. And Clifford Aaron eventually stops responding to messages. The victim funds at this point are considered gone or stolen.
Neither Clifford Aaron or JointGap.com have responded to allegations of fraud.
It is advised to not do any transactions with JointGap.com or Clifford Aaron until further notice as they are no longer responsive and victims have been unable to withdraw their funds.
Victims who have been scammed are encouraged to report the Sprout Trade Services Telegram Channel for abuse and contact your local and federal authorities to take action against this financial fraudster.
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