The murky world of money-doubling schemes on Telegram

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Editor's note: In July, while scouring the internet to invest in cryptocurrencies, HP came across a group on instant messaging app Telegram promising to double his money within 24 hours.  “First, I bought $5 in Bitcoin and they returned $10 in 24 hours. In the second round, I invested $50 and got $150. In the third, they asked me to invest $1,000 and said I would earn $250 per day over the next 30 days, which means a $7,500 profit,” says HP, who asked not to be identified. Two weeks after he made his third investment through the Telegram group Stacks-coin Ltd, he was told that he could double his investments if he put in another $2,500.  Despite being a cybersecurity analyst, HP saw nothing amiss. But when he tried to withdraw the money that was credited to his account, things went awry. “The group administrator said that I was on a basic plan and would have to pay $6,000 for an upgrade. I refused to pay, so they blocked my account, stopped taking my calls and now I can’t even find …