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I remember hearing a lot about such scams after Bitcoin hit the 21K mark for the first time in 2017. Scammers were using the same technique as the one mentioned by you to lure newbies. They used Bitcoin as a mode of investment option but they never invested any money into Bitcoin. The only difference in this situation is that they are not using Bitcoin but their invented coin and are using WhatsApp to finalize the deal. I do not think the authorities will have issues in locating them as Meta the owner of WhatsApp is very helpful as they are the one who will have all the data that the authorities will need to trace the scammers.
You were actually one of the early user of cryptocurrencies that is why you have great past knowledges. More earlier you familiar about new technology than you can be more careful about investing and holding safely. On those days, it was hard to find about such news so people blindly invested their money. Now, people are getting updated news faster. It was most volatile days than now as people actually did not discuss about their lost money. I agree that it is no more tough to find the scammers now-a-days as authority has fast technology for tracing easily.