<p>It's a scam. The upfront 2% fee is a red flag and just the start, if you fall for that, they'll find other fees and charges you need to pay.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-05T21:45:02.077Z
2023-03-05T21:45:02.077Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>I was recently contacted by a company called APAG-AUDIT AG claiming they have discovered funds that belong to me during the course of an audit.  I was scammed by a group of companies last year and have been contacted by numerous companies claiming they have recovered funds that belong to me.  In every case so far, the companies were confirmed as scams.  This is the first company that is actually listed and has a history of performing audits on financial sector companies.  The problem I have is that I have been unable to find a single employee listed with a local register.  For instance I contacted the FCA in an attempt to confirm registration in the UK.  They were not listed because they are primarily a firm of lawyers.  This is strange given Chartered Accountants are normally involved in financial audits not lawyers.  The company has also recently changed their web address from .com to .org.</p>
<p>They are not requesting fees directly however, the exchange they want me to use does charge a 2% transaction fee that I would have to pay upfront before any amounts held in bitcoin could be transferred to me.  The platform they want me to use is called cb-online.group and is formally named Crypto Bank.  When I google Crypto Bank I find that there are numerous platforms using the same or similar names and 98% of them have very poor reputations.</p>
<p>Any help anyone could provide regarding how to determine this firm's legitimacy is greatly appreciated.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-05T21:31:57.020Z
Does this answer your question? [Is it normal to be asked for an advance fee on a withdrawal?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/103891/is-it-normal-to-be-asked-for-an-advance-fee-on-a-withdrawal)
Vojtěch Strnad
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-07T16:50:28.450Z
anynews about your story with APAG AUDIT ag ? I have the same story as you. They say that audit on court will close on 10 march.
They asked me 800 usd with btc payement.
The woman who contacted us is Margot Grossman.
samuel hufschmid
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-07T18:09:27.927Z
(1). Your answer doesn't attempt to answer the question. (2). apag-audit.org are fake - the domain used in their website was first registered a few months ago. See https://who.is/whois/apag-audit.org. (3) This is classic advance-fee fraud.
RedGrittyBrick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-08T17:48:22.633Z
Red is right.  Their domain for their website is fairly new and I have been unable to find credentials for any of their employees.  I haven't given them a dime and don't plan to either.
JB1965
<wallet><wallet-recovery><fraud><lost-bitcoins>
is there such a thing as a wallet frozen due to fraud. Can funds held in such a wallet be returned to the original owner
JB1965
# is there such a thing as a wallet frozen due to fraud. Can funds held in such a wallet be returned to the original owner

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-03-05)

I was recently contacted by a company called APAG-AUDIT AG claiming they have discovered funds that belong to me during the course of an audit. I was scammed by a group of companies last year and have been contacted by numerous companies claiming they have recovered funds that belong to me. In every case so far, the companies were confirmed as scams. This is the first company that is actually listed and has a history of performing audits on financial sector companies. The problem I have is that I have been unable to find a single employee listed with a local register. For instance I contacted the FCA in an attempt to confirm registration in the UK. They were not listed because they are primarily a firm of lawyers. This is strange given Chartered Accountants are normally involved in financial audits not lawyers. The company has also recently changed their web address from .com to .org.

They are not requesting fees directly however, the exchange they want me to use does charge a 2% transaction fee that I would have to pay upfront before any amounts held in bitcoin could be transferred to me. The platform they want me to use is called cb-online.group and is formally named Crypto Bank. When I google Crypto Bank I find that there are numerous platforms using the same or similar names and 98% of them have very poor reputations.

Any help anyone could provide regarding how to determine this firm's legitimacy is greatly appreciated.

**Tags:** wallet, wallet-recovery, fraud, lost-bitcoins

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Does this answer your question? [Is it normal to be asked for an advance fee on a withdrawal?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/103891/is-it-normal-to-be-asked-for-an-advance-fee-on-a-withdrawal)  
> **username_2**: anynews about your story with APAG AUDIT ag ? I have the same story as you. They say that audit on court will close on 10 march. They asked me 800 usd with btc payement. The woman who contacted us is Margot Grossman.  
> **username_3**: (1). Your answer doesn't attempt to answer the question. (2). apag-audit.org are fake - the domain used in their website was first registered a few months ago. See https://who.is/whois/apag-audit.org. (3) This is classic advance-fee fraud.  
> **username_0**: Red is right.  Their domain for their website is fairly new and I have been unable to find credentials for any of their employees.  I haven't given them a dime and don't plan to either.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2023-03-05. Score: 5

It's a scam. The upfront 2% fee is a red flag and just the start, if you fall for that, they'll find other fees and charges you need to pay.


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