A Colorado man unhappy in his 20-year marriage said he lost $1.4 million after falling victim to a cryptocurrency romance scam.
The man, who stayed anonymous while recounting his story to multiple news outlets, told 9News that he met the woman on Ashley Madison, a website for married people seeking affairs.
He said they sent photos and video chatted through WhatsApp, and shared values that made it easy to connect.
“She said, ‘Oh, by the way, um, I’m into Bitcoin, cryptostuff, and make lots of money, and I can help you try to save your money if you go through a divorce, ” he recalled the woman telling him.
The scam wiped out $1.4 million of his retirement and life savings. Over the span of about six weeks, he made four separate cryptocurrency transactions.
But it wasn’t just a financial loss. Feelings of loneliness, misplaced trust, and a sense of hope all played a role in drawing him into the trap and persuading him to transfer his money into a fake crypto account, the man told KDVR.
“Part of where I was in life, looks, but also, she had great ideas for making money that I might lose in a divorce settlement,” he said about the woman’s persuasive techniques. “She had several businesses she owned. And she was a very beautiful, very attractive person in the pictures.”
After a month and a half of liquidating his retirement funds, the man said he realized what was happening and called the police.
The man told KDVR that he felt “anger” and “shame.”
“I’ve never guessed I’d be duped like this,” he said.
Colorado Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Zeb Semester told 9News that the man’s $1.4 million is the most money he’s ever seen lost in an online scam like this one.
A major challenge in crypto scam cases is addressing them quickly, Semester said.
In this case, investigators were able to trace the funds to a cold storage wallet, which is like a digital safe, Semester said. However, its owner is unknown, and it can’t be used to trade crypto for cash. That must happen through a crypto exchange.
“We’re just kind of waiting for that to move to touch an exchange that is cooperative with law enforcement,” Semester told the outlet.
Some exchanges work with law enforcement to seize funds and occasionally help return money to victims.
Although law enforcement has made progress in tracking the funds in this case, Semester explained that they have historically lacked effective ways to investigate and recover stolen assets in similar situations. Therefore, it’s unlikely that the man will recover his money.
As a “man of faith,” the victim says he believed “there’s a reason” he went through this experience: to teach others about the risks of meeting people they meet online.
“Please step back from where you’re at, and if you haven’t met them face to face, really do your due diligence and find out who that person is,” he told KDVR.
“Trust your gut instinct,” he continued. “Trust people around you that you really have trust in your whole life, that if it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true.”
