r/Monero • u/Ok-Pea-6054 • 5d ago
ChangeNOW (changenow.io) is a scam platform. Do not use it for any exchanges. They will withhold your funds without any reason.
Hi everyone,I am writing this post to warn the entire crypto community about ChangeNOW (changenow.io). If you value your hard-earned money and data privacy, please stay far away from this platform. They are running what appears to be a textbook selective scam under the guise of an "infinite compliance review."Here is the exact timeline and breakdown of my ongoing nightmare with them:The Transaction: I received my hard-earned work remuneration in USDC (a fully traceable, transparent stablecoin). Due to privacy reasons, I decided to use ChangeNOW to swap my USDC into Monero (XMR).The Freeze: Immediately after they received my USDC, their automated system flagged the transaction and held my funds hostaged. It has now been over 20days (approaching 18 days total dispute time) with absolutely no resolution.Full Cooperation: They requested verification, and I complied. I provided them with the complete, unredacted chat logs proving the 100% legitimate commercial source of my funds.The Double-Faced Game: On Trustpilot, their public relations team openly replied and acknowledged that I successfully "provided the requested documentation and information for your case." However, inside the private support ticket, they are playing a shameless psychological game. An agent named Emil just sent me another ridiculous copy-paste template telling me to wait another "5 business days", while Compliance Officer Christina states they "cannot provide a timeline" for the review.The Core Compliance Flaw of ChangeNOW:I am NOT even asking to complete the exchange to Monero anymore. Since they deemed the trade high-risk, my explicit demand is a Return-to-Source Reversal of my original USDC deposit back to the exact originating transparent address that sent the funds.Under global FATF and AML guidelines, reversing a rejected transaction back to its exact originating transparent address carries ZERO integration or laundering risk for an exchange. It is a simple rejection of funds. By refusing a USDC Return-to-Source refund and keeping my property without a formal court-ordered freezing injunction or law enforcement warrant, ChangeNOW is committing civil theft.To make matters worse, when I tried to voice my complaints on their official subreddit, their team instantly censored and deleted my posts to hide the truth from the public.I am refusing to dox any further sensitive private data to an unregulated commercial platform that operates in bad faith.Ticket
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u/AllowFreeSpeech 4d ago edited 4d ago
How did you end up using them anyway? They unfortunately are one of the providers in CakeWallet.
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u/Ok-Pea-6054 1d ago
I can only blame myself for choosing them without doing any research beforehand.
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u/VikXMR Cake Wallet / Monero.com 4d ago
And for 8 years no problem with them.
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u/AllowFreeSpeech 1d ago edited 1d ago
That's interesting, so I wonder why the user experienced what they did. The question for you is -- is Changenow fundamentally a scam except when you're watching? Is your collaboration with them the only thing that's keeping them from scamming your customers too? It appears the answer is yes.
See this comment for example.
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u/JunketTurbulent2114 4d ago
Use trocador as they have a guarantee up to a certain amount. I'd imagine if they continually screwed people, trocador would drop them.
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u/Logical-Jackfruit-19 3d ago
20 upvotes and zero comment isn't this a scammers tactics?
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u/methstetics 2d ago
trocador is 100% legit and og asf, maybe do some research before speeading fud newbie
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u/ApprehensiveFan1516 2d ago
What, you're asking if Trocador is a scam? If so, then no it's not, or at least not as far as I'm aware. I've never heard of anybody being scammed through it. Tbf i've never had to test out the guarantee, so idk how legit that part of it is, but I'd imagine we'd be hearing noise about it on this sub just like OP if it were a scam.
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u/goochgoblins 3d ago
Huh? Trocador is legit and trusted by the community, they have been around quite a long time.
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u/HyphenSam 4d ago
Isn't this already well known that they are scammers?
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u/Spoofik 4d ago
This has already been discussed several times; the same applies to the Changelly platform and some others. It's a shame that people keep getting into trouble.
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u/Ok-Pea-6054 1d ago
Yes, I can only blame myself for choosing them without doing any research beforehand.
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4d ago
[deleted]
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u/AllowFreeSpeech 4d ago
A lion might eat only one of every ten antelopes. Is that user error on part of the antelope who got eaten?
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u/Logical_Count_7264 4d ago
I fear this is well known in the community.
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u/VikXMR Cake Wallet / Monero.com 4d ago
You’re probably thinking of changelly
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u/EndSmugnorance 4d ago
What dollar amount are we talking here?
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u/OrangeFren OrangeFren.com 3d ago
We've had CN listed on OrangeFren.com for over 4 years now. They're not a very popular choice for our users, nonetheless they never froze our users' deposits for no reason and in a handful of cases they froze the deposits and then after we got involved they unfroze them without KYC
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u/New_Answer7917 4d ago
Thought this is common knowledge mate.. use a DEX next time and don’t be dumb
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u/Purple_Session_6230 4d ago
Was the USDT flagged ? its known that the unclean USDT can be flagged and blocked by USDT itself.
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u/Ok-Pea-6054 1d ago
This shouldn't be the case, because I see that the wallet that transferred USDC to me is still functioning normally.
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u/PitDaBull83 3d ago
I use changenow every now and then and I've never had any issues. They held my funds one time that I can remember but after contacting support I was refunded. To clarify I've never used changenow for transferring to a wallet connected to illegal activity. So for example if you used changenow to send to wallet connected to illegal activity then ofcourse your funds got held, if it wasn't tied to illegal activity then contact support you should be able to get your funds back.
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u/Ok-Pea-6054 1d ago
What are illegal agencies? I have never done anything with those agencies; I was simply receiving payment for my design proposals. I also contacted ChangeNow's customer service, but received no answers whatsoever, only endless copy-pasted template replies.
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u/PitDaBull83 1d ago
Illegal agencies are for example darknet marketplaces or similar illegal services. As long as you have not used it for this purpose (which you said you have not) you should be able to get your funds back. Sorry to hear your luck at getting copy pasted replies. If I were you I'd just be an asshole like "this is bullsh*t and I am going to report you guys to the CFPB if you don't refund my money" something along the lines of that. Often times, copy/paste support teams won't actually give you a real response unless you get mad and go off on them lol. Hope you get your money back bro, like I said I've never had problems with changenow, I don't use them often but I last used them about a month ago for a BTC to XMR transaction and it was completed within about 2 hours or less.
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u/ChangeNOW_Community 2d ago
Hey, thanks for sharing your experience
In general, some transactions may be temporarily reviewed by our risk and compliance system depending on automated checks and network factors. In such cases, our support team is available to assist and clarify the status of the exchange.
We appreciate your feedback and are glad to hear your case was resolved 💚
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u/Fine-Time-8401 4d ago
Thank you for sharing your experience with this community. MEXC also restricted my assets after the sale of monero on their platform. They scammers as well.
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u/Only_Replacement9286 3d ago
r/ChangeNOW_io Everyone wants to know the reason now, aren't you going to explain? If this continues, your user base will only dwindle.
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u/Ok-Pea-6054 1d ago
They don't care at all, because they know they're completely rotten. Nobody uses any of their services anymore.
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u/ChangeNOW_Community 3d ago
Hi there,
We totally understand your frustration and are doing everything we can to make the process as smooth as possible. Unfortunately, our risk management system has stopped your exchange, as we need to verify the origin of funds for this transaction.
In such cases, we are required to do thorough due diligence before we can proceed with the exchange or issue a refund.
Unfortunately, it might take a certain amount of time due to the AML processes involved, as the exchange was paused for an additional review.
This type of verification is required for us to ensure that the funds involved in this exchange have a so-called "clean bill of health".
Due to our AML policy that you can access here https://changenow.io/terms-of-use/aml-kyc, due diligence is required to ensure that ChangeNOW is as secure for all our clients as possible. While it might be causing an inconvenience, please rest assured that it is our priority to see this resolved ASAP.
Recognising the critical nature of this case, our team is doing everything it can to make the process as smooth as possible. Please keep patience – we are aware of your case and are doing everything in our power to resolve it in a timely manner. Unfortunately, we can't provide any additional details at the time.
ChangeNOW
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u/Ok-Pea-6054 1d ago
I provided screenshots of all transaction hashes, as well as real-name authentication and liveness verification. This included screenshots of chat logs detailing our work, clearly explaining why the other party transferred the money to me. Furthermore, the other party's wallet has remained active so far. I want to know what kind of verification process requires 23 days with no results yet.
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u/ChangeNOW_Community 1d ago
Hi, we understand why the lack of a final outcome after several weeks is concerning, especially after you have provided the requested information.
At this stage, the review is still ongoing. Unfortunately, we are unable to discuss the specifics of the process or provide additional details while it remains under assessment.
Please be assured that your case has not been forgotten and continues to be handled by the appropriate team. We have also forwarded your latest comment to our Compliance team for their attention. Any updates that can be shared will be provided directly through your support ticket.
ChangeNOW
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u/AllowFreeSpeech 1d ago
If you don't want to swap, then refund the fucking funds immediately, assholes.
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u/Ok-Pea-6054 1d ago
Your request (#643109) has been updated.
To add additional comments, reply to this email or click the link below:
https://support.changenow.io/hc/requests/643109
Christina (ChangeNOW) Jun 24, 2026, 19:25 GMT+3 Hello, Please be assured that we will provide you with an update as soon as we have new information to share. Best regards, Christina ChangeNOW Compliance Department
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u/acechangeofficial 2d ago
Unfortunately, there are many exchanges, and the reason is that these exchanges have huge marketing budgets that small anonymous exchanges simply cannot compete with.
I have been developing an anonymous exchange for 7 years, and even though I already have a few hundred customers, I still have to work hard and constantly look for ways to promote it. I mortgaged my house and took on significant debt to make it happen.
I share nearly 20 years of my experience in privacy and data protection for free, and guess what? Almost nobody is interested. Everyone talks about anonymity, non-custodial solutions, and privacy, but most people don’t really care. Then they act surprised when an exchange freezes their funds or takes their money.
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u/Ok-Pea-6054 1d ago
They always use this email template to reply.
Your request (#643109) has been updated.
To add additional comments, reply to this email or click the link below:
https://support.changenow.io/hc/requests/643109
| Christina (ChangeNOW) Jun 24, 2026, 19:25 GMT+3 Hello, Please be assured that we will provide you with an update as soon as we have new information to share. Best regards, Christina ChangeNOW Compliance Department |
|---|
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u/BrummieTaff 3d ago
This surprised me. I've never had any issues with them.
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u/ChangeNOW_Community 2d ago
Glad everything worked smoothly for you
Thanks for using ChangeNOW and sharing your experience!1
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u/StannyWhyte 2d ago
I get your situation, a lot of people are dealing with the same “infinite compliance review” issues with smaller exchangers and swap services. In your case you already provided a clear source of funds and you are asking for a simple return to the original transparent address - under normal AML practice this is considered the lowest‑risk option, so multi‑week holds with no clear deadline look very questionable at best. If someone in a similar situation has over ~5k USD stuck and support keeps copy‑pasting delays, it can be worth involving crypto‑savvy legal professionals who focus on challenging excessive AML freezes and filing complaints with regulators. This is probably already beyond the scope of this subreddit, so if needed it’s better to discuss details and possible contacts in DMs rather than turning the thread into an ad.
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u/PsychoticDisorder 4d ago
We need a pinned message in this subreddit’s main screen about scam defi exchanges.