When FTX halted withdrawals on November 8, at least one unlucky soul had made their first deposit into the crypto exchange the very same day, praying for a profit. But by the time the money had been deposited, the platform had shut down all trades, leaving this person unable to do anything. It’s just one sad story of many filed with the Federal Trade Commission, obtained by Gizmodo through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Less than a week after the halt in withdrawals, FTX declared bankruptcy, owing at least $3 billion to a million creditors. Where did that money go? We should be getting answers soon, as former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arraigned Jan. 3rd in New York federal court. He pled not guilty to a slew of federal charges, including fraud and conspiracy.
Judicial schadenfreude aside, it’s important to keep a perspective on the human toll that lies in the wake of SBF’s alleged fraud. Real people lost their life savings to FTX’s calamitous bankruptcy. To that end, Gizmodo has obtained documents that shed light on the how users were afflicted by FTX’s collapse in November.
While people like CNBC’s Kevin O’Leary have gotten the headlines for saying they lost money during the FTX implosion, we recently learned O’Leary only had money invested that he’d been given as part of his sponsorship deal with FTX. O’Leary can say he “lost” his own money when FTX went under, but that’s really not true as Joe Kernen, another CNBC commentator, recently pointed out. O’Leary was paid $15 million to be a paid spokesperson for FTX, and in turn, FTX said he had to buy a bunch of the company’s garbage crypto token with that money.
The complaints filed with the FTC include everything from bad customer service to allegations of outright fraud. Some of the most heartbreaking stories from the complaints involve people who heard about FTX collapsing and tried to get their money out as quickly as possible, to no avail.
But not all of the complaints concern FTX’s bankruptcy. Some predate FTX’s very public problems and document a host of other issues, including a lack of customer support. There are numerous complaints from people who say it was incredibly easy to put money into the platform, but very difficult to get it out. Others are about FTX’s purchase of Blockfolio, a competing crypto company. Users complained that when FTX absorbed the smaller exchange in July of 2021, their crypto simply disappeared.
Gizmodo could not independently verify the claims in the complaints we’ve obtained through FOIA, given the redactions made by the FTC, but we believe persistent patterns in the complaints paint a picture of how the company treated its users even at the best of times. The FTC released 207 complaints, many involving people who thought they were dealing with FTX, but were actually giving their money directly to scammers posing as FTX. The “accidental text” way of finding marks for scams seemed to be particularly common among FTX impersonators. The 17 complaints we’ve published below all appear to be from users who were legitimate customers of FTX.
Minor spelling and punctuation changes have been made for readability, but the substance of each complaint remains.
“They have declared bankruptcy”
November 15, 2022
On
November 2nd I transferred 300 to FTX.us via ACH. It was supposed to be
able to be withdrawn by November 14th. But now on the 14th, you can no
longer login to their website and they have declared bankruptcy.
“While waiting for the ACH deposit to clear, they went under…”
November 14, 2022
A
crypto exchange “FTX” was advertised on an F1 car from Mercedes. I
deposited money there, while waiting for the ACH deposit to clear, they
went under and disabled logins and withdrawals.
“I have funds in the acct and I cannot access it.”
November 14, 2022
As
of October 2021 I have send multiple emails to FTX US (cryptocurrency)
to let them know that I have changed my email server, and cause of that I
had to change my email which is the one in my FTX US account [redacted]
my new email is [redacted]. FTX US has responded with email that state I
should wait 72hrs cause they are very busy, I have waited and gone thru
the process of what the email they send me in what to do, but here is
the cliche it takes me back to place another support ticket. I have
funds in the acct and I cannot access it. Reason I’m reaching out to
your dept for some help. The fair solution is for FTX US to reach out
to me and help me fix the issue owing my account, they have my SS number
my telephone number my linked bank account and I have send them my new
email to contact me, moreover explaining the email account discrepancy, I
ask for someone to walk me thru the steps.
“The withdrawal was confirmed as ‘sending.’ I have not gotten my money.”
November 14, 2022
I
had cash in my FTX Crypto account and initiated a withdrawal the
evening of 11/10/22. The withdrawal was confirmed as “sending”. I have
not gotten my money to the single linked bank account I used for my FTX
account.
“I wired the remaining funds out of the brokerage and into my bank… I have yet to receive my wire transfer.”
November 13, 2022
I
was using FTX US as a cryptocurrency brokerage service. Once news broke
about their possible failures, I wired the remaining funds out of the
brokerage and into my bank on 11/09/2022. On 11/11/2022 the company
filed for bankruptcy. I have yet to receive my wire transfer.
“These are my hard-earned savings”
November 12, 2022
FTX
US was supposed to return my $25,000 (they were stored as USD on FTX
US, not sure if FTX US did something else with my savings) via ACH to my
bank account. They have not done so and are not responding to customer
service messages. Please see the dates on the attached file, which is
the communication with their customer support. These are my hard-earned
savings and FTX US needs to return my savings.
“I
currently am unable to login to withdraw any crypto if it’s even still
there. After the fallout of FTX.US being a scam and filing for Chapter
11, I want to document that I have been scammed along with thousands of
other people.”
November 12, 2022
I
created an FTX.US account on 12/27/2021 after doing research on the FTX
exchange. I deposited around $9,500 of Solana along with importing 30
NFT’s on their website. I currently am unable to login to withdraw any
crypto if it’s even still there. After the fallout of FTX.US being a
scam and filing for Chapter 11, I want to document that I have been
scammed along with thousands of other people. I reached out to the FTX
team through twitter and contact us feature with no response received.
For the past 3 days I’ve been trying to login to at least withdraw my
NFT collection which at this time is over 10,000 aside from the $9,500
of Solana deposits but I cannot get through. Many people on Twitter and
Reddit have reported having their accounts completely wiped out. I want
to ensure that if that is the case with my account, at least I have
submitted this report so I can include it in the class action lawsuit
against FTX.US and SBF.
“The timing was uncanny”
November 8, 2022
Within
hours of public news regarding Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange
failing due to liquidity issues, I received an email (from Walmart) that
my BlockFi credit card was charged for $415.88 then shortly cancelled
due to being flagged by the credit fraud team.
The timing was
uncanny, the email came in right around the mini pump and dump of
Bitcoin (I watch the daily candles in line with stock market movements)
and considering all the crime within and between crypto and Wall Street I
wasn’t sure who to notify but the FTC seemed more appropriate than the
SEC (who I believe are lax to the point of being complicit).
IF
this was not just a coincidence, it’s possible FTX and/or related
entity, BlockFi, timed some internal crime enough to pump up their
balance sheets for future restructuring negotiations. And at the very
least, my privacy and and credit file were violated!!
I don’t
know if the FTC can find the right place and people to send this tip
alert to, but at least I tried. I’ve only ever had one other
unauthorized credit card purchase in my life. This is not a regularly
occurring thing for me. I can smell the stench of crime.
(Purely
speculative but there are suspicions that FTX is a front for Ken
Griffin’s (and cronies) Citidel, Citidel Securities and their related
bad Wall Street bets.)
Thank you for reading.
“My deposit never showed up on my account.”
January 13, 2022
FTX
US deals in cryptocurrency investments. This company popped up on a
Google search and I opened an account. It gave instructions on how to
make a deposit of US dollars so that investment could be initiated. My
deposit never showed up on my account. It did show on my bank statement.
When I contacted them via a support ticket, They said I had to open a
different account and gave impossible instructions on how to accomplish
this. I said, just transfer the money to the only account that I have
and can log onto. They said they couldn’t do that. I said please close
my account and return the funds that I deposited. They said on the
support ticket that they couldn’t do that either. I asked for a phone
number for support so that they could walk me through it. There is no
support phone number. There is no mailing address. Now they no longer
respond to my support ticket requests. I believe this company is a scam.
“Received a message stating that withdrawals are unavailable.”
December 22, 2021
I
put in a little over $600 total in US dollars and SHIB coin to buy the
2974 Steph Curry NFT (priced at $499 total). I was charged 2.5M SHIB to
transfer my crypto to FTX (roughly $91 USD at the time of writing this
email). Error messages when attempting to buy included please try again
not enough funds and too many attempts try again in 24 minutes. After
NFT sale ended, I attempted to withdraw my assets and received a message
stating that withdrawals are unavailable.
“At this point, I just want to liquidate my account and get my money out”
November 1, 2021
About
2 months ago, a cryptocurrency investing app – Blockfolio was sold to
FTX. At that time, the Blockfolio app required an update and changed to
the FTX app. At that time, I lost the ability to log into my account.
I’ve logged many tickets with their tech support site and did work with
one person who helped me change my password so I could log into my
account. However, my account now shows a $0 balance. Company’s website
provides not contact information (no phone number or address) beyond the
ability open a trouble ticket. I’ve opened several tickets explaining
the issue and requesting a call back from a live agent, but no response.
I’m sure there is a technical glitch somewhere, but I cannot get anyone
to assist me and I have not had access to my funds for over a month. At
this point, I just want to liquidate my account and get my money out,
but I cannot get anyone to assist with this so I’d like to formally
lodge a complaint with the trading commission. Thank you.
“It takes no time to deposit”
November 30, 2021
I
have made few deposits that adds up to 1600$ in FTX. The platform
stated it will take up to 3-5 business days to be able to withdraw my
money. But my last deposit was on Nov 23rd and the app still on allow me
to withdraw. It takes no time to deposit but crazily long process to
withdraw.
“I have been unable to log into my account.”
November 2, 2021
Blockfolio
was a good cryptocurrency app I used to invest in stock. Since they
updated their app and renamed it to FTX, I have been unable to log into
my account. Its asks me to update my password which I have no problem
doing so but it stays on the same screen and does not let me do anything
else. I have made a report but have not heard back from the company. A
lot of users have also complained about this and have even said their
cryptocurrency has been wiped clean and can no longer see their
deposits. This company seems like a scam and I would like to report it
so this doesnt keep happening to other people. Please contact me at
[redacted] with any questions or concerns. Thank you.
“This is my life savings”
October 20, 2021
On
Sunday October 17 at 11:00pm my FTX crypto account was either hacked
or stolen by the exchange. I had over $120,000.00 in this account. They
have not given me any information on what has happen to my account its
just gone. Please help me this is my life savings.
“I was advised ftx has no record of my account.”
October 16, 2021
Access to my account was changed during an app update. I reached out to [email protected]. it was very poor support. It took months to get a reply. I was asked to contact [email protected], I am still waiting for a response on my concerns. I was advised ftx has no record of my account. I have a confirmation email, support emails and bank records that support I do I have an account. I had just over 13 SOL crypto coins which I also have screen shots of. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
“As of my understanding, no one has been able to recover their funds.”
August 23, 2021
In
June 2021 I deposited $800 to buy cryptocurrency. I was told to wait 15
business days before withdrawing. On August 2nd I decided to withdraw
my funds and there was an error (Said that I had a read only account). I
reached out to customer service on August 2nd to get help. They asked
for a copy of my identification and a selfie to prove my identity. I
sent it in. They asked for it again on August 5th. I sent it in. They
asked for them all in one picture on August 8th 2021, I send that in on
August 8th, 2021 and they stopped responding. I wrote them no less than
seven times asking for an update in the status. I wrote them again on a
new thread which issued me a new trouble ticket number. I was told by
one customer service person to try to delete the app and re-install. I
did and reported to them that it didn’t work and they have not
responded. I looked online to check to see if anyone else has been
having problems and there were 5-10 people who were all having problems
withdrawing their funds from FTX/Blockfolio. As of my understanding, no
one has been able to recover their funds. Each of us has deposited
enough to be worth tens of thousands of dollars in the near future.
“I have no recourse”
May 14, 2021
On 5/6/2021 I sent a wire transfer in order to exchange these funds for crypto assets like Bitcoin. I’ve verified from my bank that they have received the funds, but the exchange is holding on to the funds without crediting it to my account and without recalling the wire. I have had no access to these funds for over a week. They do not answer my emails but sent a notification that they will hold on to my funds. I have no recourse.
