After a Cryptocurrency Scam: Scars Remain, but We Can Learn to Live with Them and Move Forward

"This is Hsiao-Chieh, a.k.a. braised-pork-rice fan from Zhuolan, Miaoli 36944-you know it!"

Shy but enthusiastic, Hsiao-Chieh distilled the things he loves into a single sentence by way of introduction. He also readily shared his favorite braised-pork-rice restaurant and explained that the "MLZL" tattoo on his hand represents his hometown of Zhuolan, Miaoli.

Hsiao-Chieh is 22 years old. Because insomnia and stress have caused a range of physical and psychological difficulties, he has put his plans to complete school on hold for the time being. That has not stopped him from learning in other ways or pursuing his interests. Alongside his ambition to try braised pork rice across Taiwan, composing music and playing Go have become central parts of his life. During the interview, he opened the app for an online cryptocurrency platform and introduced us to this unfamiliar world. Yet if stock-price movements are hard enough to predict, cryptocurrency is even more unpredictable.

A Sudden Notice Upends Every Plan

At the time, Hsiao-Chieh had been hospitalized because of insomnia and other physical and psychological difficulties and expected to spend a month in the hospital stabilizing his condition. While hospitalized, he called home and his mother told him, "The Dawu Police Precinct called looking for you because someone transferred money into the BitoPro account you registered." Hsiao-Chieh immediately thought: he had never used that account, so how could money have been transferred into it? He reasonably suspected that someone had taken over the account he had registered but never used. Already struggling at the time, he became even more distressed. To steady himself, he went to the nursing station, borrowed an eraser, and rubbed it against his body until it left a burn-like wound, hoping the pain would help calm him down.

After calming down, Hsiao-Chieh began planning how to respond to this completely unexpected trouble. The police initially planned to come to the hospital to take his statement, but, not wanting to inconvenience them, he left the hospital early. He then asked a law student he had met through playing Go what he should do. Hsiao-Chieh explained that he had become interested in cryptocurrency after watching his former partner trade it and had downloaded BitoPro, an online cryptocurrency platform. Registration required identity verification, so he uploaded identification documents. Because the verification process was cumbersome, however, he stopped using the platform after the account was activated; he now uses Binance, which he finds easier to operate. After hearing the story, his classmate told him that the Judicial Reform Foundation might be able to help and sent him JRF's website so he would know where to seek assistance.

"I'm a Victim Too"

Through JRF, Hsiao-Chieh contacted the Legal Aid Foundation (LAF) and explained the situation in detail. After LAF confirmed the case with the police, an attorney and police officers went to Hsiao-Chieh's home to take his statement. Hsiao-Chieh told us that the police explained that the other victim had originally been trying to borrow money and had added, on Facebook, someone whose LINE display name was "Specialist Huang." The victim then transferred money into an account designated by that person. The "dummy account" was Hsiao-Chieh's unused BitoPro account. Hsiao-Chieh did not know the person at all, much less voluntarily provide the account. Fortunately, the police recorded the interview, did not make things difficult for him, and even told him that they too regarded him as a victim.

"What are you going to do about the victim's money?" It was a question that left Hsiao-Chieh at a loss. He too was a victim whose account had been used, yet he was being asked to confront the financial loss suffered by another victim. Hsiao-Chieh smiled helplessly and said, "I answered that, while I was in the hospital, one of the aunties there told me I had to insist that I wouldn't deal with it. If I said I would, that would mean admitting guilt."