Dating can be challenging. Doing it through the apps can add a whole other layer of issues. Now there is another obstacle to look out for: Scammers who want to swindle people out of their life savings.
According to the Daily Mail, this happened to 42-year-old Rebecca Holloway who is a mother of three. She matched with a man who she believed to be named Fred, who claimed to be a French entrepreneur. He convinced her to invest $100,000 in cryptocurrency. She lost her entire 401(k) savings instead.
Rebecca said that Fred told her it was the perfect time to invest because of the Silicon Valley Bank failure. She trusted him with her retirement savings. Something she will always regret.
“Single women approaching middle age are so vulnerable,” Rebecca mused. “We have money but we might not have met the right guy yet. And suddenly this good-looking man starts talking to you and you’re excited.”
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This scheme is known as “pig butchering.” A match will “fatten up” their target by gaining their trust and connecting with them. Once they are primed, they will casually bring up cryptocurrency and lead the victim to the slaughter.
Rebecca knows first hand that hindsight is 20/20. “Looking back, the signs are so obvious. But at the time you want to believe it’s real,” she explains.
Rebecca was fooled because her interactions with Fred were so genuine. He was attentive and followed through. He also claimed to have three children of his own.
Her investments started small and always paid off. She first transferred $1,000 and made $168 on a crypto platform. The next time she invested $6,000 and saw a great return. She finally went all in with her entire 401(k).
It was not until Rebecca spoke to a friend that she realized what was going on. This friend warned her about others in similar situations being swindled out of their life savings, but it was too late.
“It felt like a movie where suddenly everything around me blurred and became distorted,” she recalled. “I didn’t even try to withdraw my money, I knew at that point it was gone.”
Rebecca is one of many this has happened to. Shreya Datta was also scammed out of more than $450,000 in a similar manner. In 2022, investment fraud accounted for $3.31 billion in losses, making it the biggest scam according to the US Department of Justice.
Be careful when swiping!
