World Exchange Services (WEX), a controversial cryptocurrency trading platform, has reportedly closed the account of one of its longtime customers almost right after they deposited $11,000 in Litecoin (LTC).
The frustrated user wrote in a Reddit post that he had “stupidly decided” to again start trading on WEX, a “mistake” the redditor claims cost him $11,000 worth of digital currency. He further stated that after making the large deposit, his account was closed “within less than an hour.”
“Something Was Wrong”
According to the reddit user’s detailed post, the exchange confirmed his deposit “within mere minutes”, however, just before the deposit had been credited to his WEX.nz account, he discovered that “something was wrong.” As the user, who goes by the name Kazin-BTCe, waited for the deposit to reflect on his account, he learned that many of the exchange’s users had been voicing concerns about withdrawals having been “disabled for weeks.”
The disgruntled customers also claimed that WEX.nz was “in trouble”, and that’s when the redditor said he had a “panic attack” because he came to the realization that his $11,000 in LTC were now held on an exchange dealing with “legal and financial trouble.”
According to the redditor, WEX.nz had given no prior warnings regarding having any problems.
There were no news updates, “no pop-ups”, and “no warnings that withdrawals are disabled”, the reddit user wrote. However, he said that the exchange had still been accepting deposits, which he claimed made it “borderline” fraud.
Deposited Funds “Are Not Available”
Noting that cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, the user stated that he contacted WEX’s customer support department and requested that they refund his LTC deposit. The exchange responded by saying “all transactions were irreversible.” This meant that the large deposit he had made recently was irreversible as well, he reasoned.
To make matters even more worrying, the user said that a customer service representative told him that “the funds are not available.” Also, after contacting the exchange’s support team several times, the crypto investor stated that his account was locked or suspended. Notably, the exchange even “threatened with permanent closure” if he “kept opening tickets.”
WEX.nz is now asking for his passport “and other legal information”, according to the reddit user, and claims that the exchange said it was “the only way” they’d be able to reinstate his five-year old account.
“100% Confident” Funds Are Unrecoverable
Based on his experience working with WEX, the redditor wrote that he “honestly [doesn’t] believe withdrawals will be enabled again.” The crypto trader then admitted he’d “made a stupid decision” and was “100% confident” that his funds were unrecoverable, which basically implies that the exchange had stolen his $11,000 in cryptocurrency.
As CryptoGlobe reported, WEX was formerly known as BTC-e, before it rebranded itself.
Notably, BTC-e was shut down by US authorities last year due to the exchange’s suspected involvement in money laundering.
On July 19th, the site also experienced some troubling activity after cryptocurrencies had being trading at a very high premium on WEX, when prices suddenly fell sharply and withdrawals were halted as the trading platform underwent scheduled maintenance.
