The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Securities Division received a complaint from a Washington investor regarding www.sunshinefarm.vip, a website that hosts a purported online farming game called Farm Sunshine. The website is still active as of this alert.
The investor was introduced to the game when he received an unsolicited Facebook message from the scammer. The scammer appears to have used a fake Facebook profile. The scammer claimed to live in the Seattle area, but declined to meet the investor in-person. The investor and scammer chatted for a few weeks before the conversation moved to Skype. There, the scammer introduced the investor to Farm Sunshine. The scammer gave the investor an invite code that was required to access the game.
The game requires the player to purchase and deposit USDC (USD Coin), a stablecoin issued by Circle, into the player’s external cryptocurrency wallet. The game then issues an in-game currency called Gold Coins to the player. The more USDC that the player deposits into their external wallet, the higher the conversion rate and thus the higher the amount of Gold Coins that they receive. Gold Coins are required to purchase crops that the player then plants. After a certain time period, the player harvests the crops to earn USDC. The player’s purported USDC earnings are displayed in the game.
The game contains additional features to entice players into depositing more USDC into their external wallet and obtain Gold Coins. For example, players can use Gold Coins to purchase in-game items, such as fertilizer, to speed up the harvest time and thus earn USDC at a faster rate.
When the player wishes to withdraw their earned USDC, the game requests permission to access their wallet in order to deposit the player’s purported earnings.
Note: Depositing cryptocurrency into a wallet does not require the wallet owner’s permission. Any person can deposit cryptocurrency into a wallet if they know the wallet’s address. It is unclear if the investor in this case provided their wallet’s private key to the scammer. The private key, similar to a password, would have allowed the scammer to withdraw from the wallet. Never give out your private key.
Over several weeks of playing the game, the Washington investor was able to withdraw some of his earnings from the game into his external wallet. When the investor tried to make an additional withdrawal, the game instead invited him to a “special event” designed to extract more USDC from the investor. The event awarded the investor additional game bonuses if he reached certain balance thresholds in his external wallet.
The scammer convinced the investor to deposit additional USDC to reach the $100,000 threshold. The scammer then offered to loan the investor $30,000 in USDC to entice him into depositing more USDC to reach the $200,000 threshold. The investor did so after the scammer actually transferred the loaned USDC into his wallet. The scammer then offered to loan an additional $130,000 in USDC to assist the investor with reaching the $500,000 threshold, which the investor declined. The investor was soon locked out of his game account. Thereafter, the scammer demanded that the investor repay the $30,000 loan and began threatening him when he refused.
A review of the blockchain shows that the scammer withdrew over $211,000 in USDC from the investor’s wallet the same day that he declined to deposit additional USDC. This amount consisted of approximately $131,000 of the investor’s principal investment, over $21,000 in earnings from the game, and the $30,000 loan. The investor has lost his entire investment.
Below are the social media accounts and wallets that were involved in the scam:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100052233964335
It appears that the profile picture and display name have changed since the investor interacted with this account. The current name on the account is “Bonnie Chiu.”
Skype ID: live:.cid.faadc03a65ae586f
At the time that the investor communicated with this account, its display name was “Enya.”
Scammer’s deposit wallet address: 0xD51AA02e40c3d8a330c5229996C3050c51258d85
Scammer’s wallet address used to pay players: 0xDc87D21810dB4d7Cda4d28838da92D6C5fbf0efF
Scammer’s wallet address used to loan USDC to players: 0x6943BB45abEF7D0Fe64c4c867db72F67D4694F8d
According to the investor, some of the cryptocurrency that are deposited into the deposit address are then moved to the wallet that is used to pay players. Funds from that wallet are then used to fund the wallet used to make loans to players.
The above allegations have not been verified by DFI.
This appears to be what is commonly called a “Pig Butchering Scheme.”
DFI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services.
Investment professionals need to be licensed with DFI to offer investments to Washington residents. In addition, most investment products sold need to be registered with DFI. To check the licensing status and to find out if there are any complaints against an investment professional or investment product, please visit FINRA Brokercheck or contact the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Securities Division at (360) 902-8760. If you live outside of Washington State, contact your state securities regulator.
If a consumer believes a person or company has violated state law or acted improperly regarding an investment product or service, they may file a complaint with the Securities Division.
Additional Resources
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