Saturday 12 October 2024

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can they get my money back for me?

Please help me with a legit recovery company that deals with recovery of cryptocurrency platforms. I believe I got scammed and I want to recover my money back. I invested through Yellowcard and I never received any profits as I kept on sending with the hope of receiving more.

I was engaged with one certain company named Recovery Management Service Botswana they said they can recover for me but it seems like it's a scam too. I did not pay coz I felt they want to scam me as they wanted me to pay a fee for their service before they can release my money. Please help, thank you.


Firstly, I'm very sorry that you fell victim to that scam. If it's any consolation, you were certainly not the first person to fall for a scam like this and you won't be the last. It's also important to know that the scam you fell victim to was nothing to do with the real Yellow Card company. Yellow Card is a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange but they are not themselves a way to make money. We've reported endless times about these scams for several years but clearly the message hasn't spread far enough yet. The simple truth is that anyone, no matter how charming they seem, no matter how many impressive Powerpoint presentations they show and no matter how much they offer in profits, they're lying to you.

However, the real tragedy is that many people who've been scammed are then scammed a second time when they're approached by someone who claims they can help recover the losses they made. Like in your case, they give themselves an impressive name and suggest that they can somehow recover the money stolen from you. But this is just another scam. It's probably even the same scammers who know they took your money before and think they can do it again. And many times they're right.

I'm really happy that you spotted this before you fell victim to a second scam. Now please join us in trying to spread the word about these scams and help the people we care about to avoid them.

Where's my money?

A few years ago I opened a savings account with my bank. The account had a balance of P120 which all along I thought was gaining interest. I did not transact on this account for a few years.

Last month I went to the bank to try and deposit some money into the same account only to be told that the account has been closed and my savings have been gobbled by bank charges. Meanwhile I had all along been of the impression that i have invested P120 as savings. Can you help me get my P120 back with interest or ask the bank to reopen my savings account with my original investment plus interest?


Unfortunately, I don't think I have any good news for you. I suspect the solution to this problem will be found in a small print of the banking agreement you signed when you first opened this account. Although the account might have some interest over the years it's also likely that there were bank fees that were deducted from the balance on a regular basis. Given also that the amount of money you invested was so little, the interest would've been tiny and probably very small compared to the bank charges. It's no surprise then to find that the accounts probably empty.

The other problem you face is that bank accounts that are ignored for a long period of time are declared dormant and eventually closed by the bank. You might've seen lists of these accounts published in the newspapers when the banks are trying to contact the account holders to either reopen the account or give them any money they're holding for them.

The lesson is to understand as well as possible the terms of conditions of any bank account you open and then do your best to abide by those terms and conditions. I also think the banks are letting us down by not educating us sufficiently about these things. They're the experts, they're the ones who should be sharing their knowledge with us. Isn't that what we pay them to do?