Custody and cash · 24 / 86 · 3 min
OTC desks
OTC means a large trade arranged off the public order book. It is a meeting, a wire, and a wallet. Robberies wear this costume because the amounts are large and the setting feels private.
The amounts are large and the setting feels private. That is why robberies wear this costume.
A worked case
Two people agree a price in a private chat that claims to be a desk. The wire leaves. The coins never come. There was no desk. There was a story and a bank account.
The costume
A broker, a hotel lobby, a WhatsApp desk, a promise of a better price. The private setting is the point of the scam as much as of the real service.
What a real desk still is
A real desk is still a company or a person who can fail, front-run you, or disappear with one side of the trade. Ask where the coins sit until both sides have paid.
Do not meet a stranger with a seed phrase, and do not send the full amount first because they said the rate expires.
A private chat is not a desk
Over-the-counter trading means a large trade arranged off the public order book. Real desks exist. They are companies, with bank accounts, contracts, and a history you can check. The costume is a Telegram chat, a borrowed logo, and a hurry. The amounts are large, which is why the robbery is worth it, and the setting feels private, which is why the victim does not ask a second person to look.
The pattern is old enough to be boring. A price is agreed. A wire leaves. The coins never come, or the coins come from a stolen account and are clawed back, or you are asked to meet and the meeting is the crime. Public reporting of bogus desks is scattered because the victims often stay quiet. The shape is the same as any private placement fraud: secrecy is sold as sophistication.
If you cannot name the company, the bank, and the person who will sign, you do not have a desk. You have a chat. Do not send the large amount to find out which.
Read it yourself
These links are the record. They are not a recommendation, and they are not instructions. A news story or a court paper can still be wrong about a detail. The check does not change because a famous name is in the story.
Apply the check
Open a question. The line is about this topic. It is not a verdict that anything is safe.
The person who received the wire.
Whoever you did not check. A real desk still has a company behind it.
The person with the wallet you sent to, or the person who can freeze the wire.
Check yourself
Does a better private price mean the desk is safe?
No. The price is not the check. Who holds the coins during the trade is.
After this you can treat a private large trade as higher stakes, not as a safer club.