Scammer warning

Harith Motoshiromizu stole my fathers, my friends, and my own Bitcoins and fled to Japan to evade police. New victims are giving him money in another, more elaborate cryptocurrency scam called “Bitex” and “XBX” ICO. It is time somebody stops him, before more people get hurt. Here you will read one story, but there are others.

Harith Motoshiromizu, also knows as “Nick”, or “Nicky”, or “Harith Al-Ricabi was born in Irak. He is also a Japanese citizen with passport number TZ1236921. He is believed to have a previous criminal record in Japan. By his own admission in a conversation, convicted of violence towards a Japanese female.

Amount of bitcoins/money stolen:

In my case it is 14,3 Bitcoins worth of 13.500 USD per Bitcoin, calculated as the average price at the date January 31st, 2018, when he stole it. Roughly 200.000 USD total, not included interest. There are at least 5 more victims that we know of, and 80 Bitcoins stolen at the same value, around 1.000.000 USD (conservative estimate).

Scamming status:

Currently he is in Japan, Fukuoka, evading Thai police. Harith Motoshiromizu is still trying to scam people through a cryptocurrency “venture” incorporated in Thailand, Singapore and possibly elsewhere, under the umbrella “Bitex” and an ICO “XBX”, et cetera.

In Fukuoka Mr. Motoshiromizu has frequently been observed inside the nightclubs, spending his victims money. He has also been traveling around incorporating in Singapore, luring new victims investors in on his investments schemes. As of now he has managed to get an “XBX” token into the DAX exchange. An impressive feat. His ability to lure people in should not be underestimated.

Read more about the Bitex scam here.

Scamming methods

His numerous scamming devices has gone from managing a trading fund called Matryx Crypto, cryptocurrency exchange Bitex / EZBitex, and now some sort of crypto banking, and crypto card in combination with a card reader bought from China with his logo on. The main scamming strategy now seems to be the XBX ICO and getting people to buy tokens.

Harith Motoshiromizu loves being center of attention. Most likely he has a narcissistic and/or sociopathic personality disorder. He is glib, and can be very charming if he wants to. He has little or no formal education. He has previously tried running a nightclub in Fukuoka called “Victoria”, and selling electric cigarettes. All his business ventures has failed so far. Scamming he does however have a talent for, leaving an unknown number of victims in his wake.

My encounter with Harith Motoshiromizu

I met Harith Motoshiromizu through a french man named Nicholas Louis Laurent Berthoz sometime early in 2017. Nicholas also calls himself “Nikky Skorzeni” on Facebook, and “Nico,” or “Niky Nine”. Nicholas was looking to exchange some bitcoins to fiat currency, and therefore set up a meeting with Harith, who supposedly could help with this. I had met Nicholas only 6 months earlier, and thought him to be a friend.

It later turns out that Nicholas would help Harith Motoshiromizu steal from me and my father, using different strategies, by corroborating Hariths initial lies, so that it was difficult to make a police arrest before Harith could flee from Thailand, by physical and verbal threats, a physical assault at one time, and trying to wear me down psychologically.

After Harith helped Nicholas exchange bitcoins to fiat currency (or so Iwas told), a friendship gradually formed between us, driven by Hariths willingness to “help” Nicholas with a passive income, by letting him manage his bitcoins through arbitraging, and paying a fixed profit from this every month. I was also lured into this scheme. Nicholas has no technical education or training (other than in the gym) but seemed knowledgeable about crypto, and if he believed in Harith, so could I.

I did not have any bitcoins or other cryptocurrency, but I had some money, and my father had some of his pension saved up, and I thought it would be a good idea to invest this. I could make my father some money as well. This was around June, 2017 .

Nicholas supposedly invested a much larger amount of 15 Bitcoins. I was in the process of talking with my father, and he was obviously skeptical. I started therefore with buying 2 bitcoins, by transferring money from my bank account, to Hariths Japanese Bank account, and then again later more money he would buy another 5 bitcoins for me. Finally I would buy another 6,5 bitcoins through Harith, which he would hold, trade and arbitrage with, and pay me monthly profits from. And so he did, for some months.

Harith Motoshiromizu received most payments via bank transfer in fiat currency to his Japanese Bank account The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, LTD. Fukouka Central Branch, Account number (571)-4825336. All this is documented, and also with signed contracts with Harith.

Big scamming plans

In addition to his trading and arbitrage scam under the name of Matryx, Harith had other big plans in the cryptocurrency business. One was to launch a cryptocurrency exchange in December, 2017 (EZ Bitex). Nicholas was eager to have a part in this exchange, and told me he had invested 30.000 USD of his money in return for 2,5%.

Harith did not spend money to develop the exchange. It never came.

Nicholas claimed he already had some assets from a big value increase in invested cryptocurrency previously. I did not have money to invest in any exchange, and also thought it was too risky. I was however interested in investing in more bitcoins, as there was a value increase. I said to Harith that I have a condo that I could partially mortgage, and buy some more bitcoins with him, bringing up the total to 14.3 bitcoins. This was the last 6,5 bitcoins I bought from Harith, as mentioned above.

After Harith heard the value of my condo, he suggested I mortgaged it substantially, and in return, also invest in the cryptocurrency exchange he was launching. I said I could not. It was too risky. I wanted to invest in bitcoins. So Harith proposed another deal, which would be a better deal that Nicholas got. If I continuously reinvested the added bitcoins I purchased (6,5) until the value of the 6,5 BTC (plus reinvestments) reached 150.000 USD, I would also get a 2,5% stake in the exchange immediately. This way I would keep and own the bitcoins I invested in. Also, Harith would get more capital to trade with, and make his own profit off. Also, when the total amount reached 150.000 USD after a few years, I could settle the 30.000 USD, and keep the rest. In hindsight, his mania and eagerness in parting me from my money, was a massive red flag.

I mortgaged my condo, and transferred the money to the accused Japanese bank account. He bought the bitcoins for me. But he never presented me with any contract for the arrangement of the part of the exchange, or any real contract for the purchasing of bitcoins for me. However, I received monthly statements from the accused showing both the amount of bitcoins of mine that he holds, and the profit performance yield. I was unhappy having him hold my Bitcoins without a simple temporary contact simply confirming the transfer of fiat money and the bitcoin purchase, and the accused holding these bitcoins.

From red flags to full blown psychopathy

During this time, I noticed several serious red flags in Hariths behavior. He would hire fake staff to make his company look bigger in front of possible investors coming by the office. He would also lash out in rage, which was extremely uncomfortable, as it was showing a side of him that was unstable and unpredicable. His personality had changed from being your best friend, to a manipulative and reckless person. At this time he was already holding a lot of my assets, and this caused a significant strain.

Harith Motoshiromizu was also increasingly late with paying out the monthly trading profits, and arbitrage profits to me and also other friends of mine that had we had invested with him. The delays also made for an uncomfortable situation. It seemed like he was not even sure what had been invested where.

PS: Harith calls himself “Nicky” on Line chat.

From December 2017, things started to deteriorate rapidly. I had been helping Harith more than full time without any pay or other compensation, other than a promise that we would all be “rich soon”. It seemed unrealistic, but at this time, he had all the leverage, holding my capital and my old fathers saved pension.

While he was in Japan, on January 31st, Harith sent me a message, and told me I was out, because I was “negative”. It was apparently after Harith and Nicholas had a talk on the phone. I did not know the content of the conversation, but Nicholas told me that he was himself upset, and that he therefore called Harith to explain the problems both him and me had with Harith. From the message I got from Harith, it seemed more like Nicholas had explained how dissatisfied I was. I realized that this probably had been a ploy to manufacture some sort of conflict, leading up to the theft. Probably because I the last two months had asked to cash in some of my fathers bitcoins so I could renovate his apartment. We bought BTC at around 2500 USD and now it was 17–19000 USD. Harith reacted first with friendly assurances that he would oblige, but then never do it, or have time, to gradually get angry, and in the end, create a conflict together with Nicholas. It was a game.

At the time is was more than happy to get away from them. Harith wrote in a message that he would refund my Bitcoins in 2–4 weeks. I said that this was OK. That I was tired and confused, but that is was probably for the best.

3 days later, in the middle of the night, with no prior dialogue, I got an angry message on Line again, where he said I now was in trouble for betraying him. That I could forget my bitcoins. I tried reason with him, as if there was a misunderstanding, but it seemed like he was more interested in creating a conflict.

From this point on, Harith and Nicholas would engage in what I would call psychological warfare, in an attempt to break me, scare me off, or perhaps coerce me into accepting a 10–20 % settlement, not even the money I initially invested. Harith now claimed that I had a loan with him for the bitcoins I invested in the exchange. That I now suddenly owed him 150.000 USD. He was also threatening. I told him that 7.86 of the 14,3 BTC was my dads saved pension, and that him acting like this, put a strain on his health, as he already had a 6X bypass surgery and was 75 years old. He did not care.

At this point I was becoming aware of the severity of his criminal mindset. He had spoken with my father, pretending to be his friend. Harith had even taken me to Japan to visit his mother. Any remotely normal person would assume that this meant something. He would not even spare my old father from his own greed.

The following weeks and months it became clear that Nicholas was helping and protecting Harith, and he was trying to make me back off. Utilizing various tactics: on the one side accusing me of threatening him (I could get sued), on the other, looking to beat me up. Or more serious, saying he would report me for drug abuse to the police, or Royal Defamation (very serious in Thailand), et cetera. What kind of arrangement they had, I don’t know till this day. It was hurtful, because I had considered Nicholas to be my friend, up until the very last. There are chat and audio recordings documenting Nicholas engaging in this behavior.

3 months after the theft I went to a lawyer. Here is an AUDIO TAPE RECORDING of how Nicholas (Nikky) and Harith (Nick) tried to stop me doing that.

Almost a year chasing my fathers stolen pension

As the number of victims has increased, the tactic of Mr. Motoshiromizu has changed. Now he will promise to return the stolen assets, but never do so. Nicholas seems to have taken a “backup player” role by claiming he also has gotten his bitcoins stolen by Harith. But at the same time he is still with Harith in the ongoing Bitex, XBX scam. He is trying to get people to buy XBX tokens from Harith.

What Harith was really doing at the time is unclear. A friend of mine, Peder, who also was scammed by Harith has written his own account here. Peder is a software engineer and very knowledgable in crypto, and has analyzed the flow of bitcoins in Hariths accounts. He says it is very likely that Harith was involved in international money laundering at the time, which is another reason why law enforcement is now chasing Harith.

Update 11.1–2019.

Harith has been engaged by various third parties in attempt to get him to repay the 210.000 USD he owes me and my father. In the weeks leading up launching the XBX scam on the DAX exchange, he went as far as offering to pay 2000 USD in exchange for some time until after launch. Then he promised to start paying a more substantial amount. When the date came, January 1st, he went back to sending tirades of threats and insults to third party mediators.

He is also trying to convince his current unknowing partisans (and soon to be victims, most likely) that he is paying back what he has stolen (“borrowed” in his terms) and that he has an arrangement, etc. These are all lies. Probably he was asked to do something by new investors, on account of Peders article that was published some time ago, exposing him.

As of now there is still no promise of returning the 210.000 USD worth of crypto he stole. He has made vague promises of returning 20%, or the amount that the bitcoins was initially bought for, sometime in the future. He have also been sending around the transfers slips of the 2000 USD he paid to buy himself some time, to a lot of people, as proof that he is taking care of it. Clearly he still has no intention of admitting to what he stole, or repaying.

Harith is currently wanted by the Thai police. There seems to be very good relations between Japanese and Thai law enforcement. He will most likely get an international arrest warrant on him and then extradited to Thailand.

The last few weeks have been tough. I recently flew back to bury my father who passed away, in his apartment, alone. May he rest in peace. Unfortunately I was not able to retrieve the money Harith (and Nicholas) stole fast enough. But I will try to use that stolen inheritance to start a family and give him grand children.

To be continued.

PS: If you have any information regarding Harith Motoshiromizu please contact me.