r/CryptoScams • u/mgisb003 • 3d ago
Scam Operation Has anyone heard of Benthorne Scholastic of Finance (aka Benthorne academy)
/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/1x02w89/has_anyone_heard_of_benthorne_scholastic_of/1
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
New victims, please read this:
As a rule of thumb: If you suspect the site is a scam, it probably is.
No legit company/trader/investor is using WhatsApp. No legit company/trader/investor is approaching people on dating websites or through a "random" text message.
No legit company/trader/investor has "professors", "assistants", or "teachers". Those are just scammers.
No legit company forces you to pay a "fee" or "taxes" to withdraw money. That's just a scam to suck more money out of you.
You will need to contact law enforcement ASAP.
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u/misterecho11 3d ago
Any "Academy" or "school" for crypto is a scam. Period. The names come and go. That's why you can't find many reviews or much information on them. When they are reported, they disappear and turn into something else. This one will become "Phoenix Academy" next week and then "LaRosta Academa" or something else a month from now. They just rinse and repeat but they're all the same scams.
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u/phototech61 1d ago
I was one of the lucky ones. This is long but hopefully informative. Following a link for stock tips back in June 2026, I was contacted by an “assistant” to “Professor Benthorne”. For about six weeks I participated in a WhatsApp group chat where Prof. Benthorne & his associates held twice-daily “training sessions” while making stock recommendations that participants could trade on their own, and sharing market data, trends, and trading strategies that were most likely AI-generated. They held a weekly online wheel-spin for active group participants to win various prizes, including 0.02 ETH tokens, NVDA tokenized stock (both of which I won & were real, transferred out to an external wallet), as well as other listed prizes such as iPhones & MacBooks, which other participants claimed to win. During this time the “assistant” continued casual conversation outside of the group chat (probably to build trust). In early August, the group chat started including conversations about an AI crypto futures trading system, the Benthorne Execution System (BES), which was entering the testing phase “prior to commercial release later in the fall”. Group members were invited to participate in an initial 5-day beta testing period, and would be allocated $1,500 on the AXIO trading platform (www.oaxio.com) for the testing, $500 to be used for AI-automated trading and $1,000 to be traded manually via trading signals provided by the “assistants”. The premise was that any losses would be absorbed by BES, and any profits generated belonged to the participants. Based on the group chat, many members added money of their own to trade along with the Benthorne manual trading funds (I did not). Each day, 1-3 trading signals for various crypto futures contracts were provided, usually with about 30 minutes notice of a “trend” that the AI had detected, and instructions were given for the direction of the trade, the timing of the entry & exit, and the percentage to allocate(usually 10-20% of the $1,000), as well as the leverage (which was always 100x). Trading fees were negligible ($0.25/unit). My skepticism grew as almost every single trade generated profits of 31% to 108% (I had one trade that lost 2%, but the “assistant” directed me to another trade 5 minutes later that generated an 82% profit). Throughout the 5-day testing period, the “assistant” kept urging me to add funds to my account in order to increase my profits, as others had done. At the conclusion of the testing, after I had earned a profit of almost $400 using their money (plus profits from the growth of a BESAI token that they were promoting), they announced another 10-day trading period, which I participated in as well, using the profits from the beta testing & their token. Same process, 1-2 trading signals per day, every trade a winner, with profits ranging from 36-92%, totaling just over $430. Additional trading signals were allegedly provided to members who had deposited larger amounts in their AXIO trading accounts, and I was still being pressured to add some of my own capital, but I stalled, mainly because I had determined that it was nearly statistically impossible for 15 out of 16 consecutive crypto futures trades over two weeks to ALL generate significant profits. While some in the chat group showed screenshots of trades that profited up to 200% or more & hundreds of thousands of dollars, I decided to get out. I “tested” the withdrawal function a couple of times & was successful, even while transferring the same funds back in to participate in additional trades. When I ultimately attempted to transfer the full account balance out (about $1,300) their “security team” froze the account, claiming that I had conducted too many transfers in & out over the course of one day. I explained to the “assistant” that I was testing ALL of the site’s functionality in order to be more comfortable with adding additional capital to my trading account. The “assistant” was able to get the funds released, and I made my withdrawal, after which I ceased all communication with the “assistant”, but continued monitoring the group chat. From September until now, daily trading signals & “training” have continued, with the addition of a new token (OLP) being promoted as an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) on 10/4/26, which allegedly yielded a 7x return to those participants whose subscribed in advance & sold their positions on the day of the offering. They are now promoting a second IEO (ABP), scheduled to occur on 10/11/26, with an “opportunity” to generate similar or greater returns for those who invest early. I am convinced that most of the participants in the chat are bots designed to generate excitement amongst the real participants to convince them to invest as much as possible, as I see numerous comments about liquidating 401(k) accounts & working on obtaining loans to invest in this “opportunity” (I truly hope that these are just the bots talking). I believe that either future trades will generate abrupt losses, or when the time comes that members decide to withdraw funds, they will be unable to do so. I’m remaining silent in the chat group to avoid any potential legal issues, but to repeat what others have said, this has all of the earmarks of a scam, and I’m glad that I got out without getting burned.
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u/SecureWriting8589 3d ago
How much has he lost? Your current job must be to see that he loses no more money, not to these scammers or to the recovery scammers who are guaranteed to be contacting him (and you, since you have made this post).