LAKEWOOD — A Colorado man is out roughly $1.4 million after he fell prey to a crypto-romance scam that drained him of his retirement savings.
The victim spoke to Denver7 Investigates on the condition that he appear in silhouette with his voice disguised to protect his identity. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into the case.
The victim said he was having marital troubles and joined a dating website. When he connected with someone, the topic quickly turned to money and the person said they could help him invest in different cryptocurrencies.
He said he trusted the person because he thought they were romantically involved. They never met, but did have FaceTime conversations. The woman used the name Erin, which may have been a fake name, according to investigators.
He initially was sending money into legitimate cryptocurrency apps. Later, the money was then sent into a fake app that scammers controlled. All told, he lost $1.4 million.
“If it's too good to be true, it's not true,” the victim said.
CBI Special Agent Zeb Smeester sat down with Denver7 Investigates and said this was the largest amount of money he has seen stolen in a crypto scam.
“The largest amounts of losses that we see are in these crypto cases, like that, with investment scams,” Smeester said.
He added that these cases aren’t necessarily difficult to investigate, but law enforcement has to take a different view of them because the perpetrators are often overseas, so the focus is often on retrieving the victim's money.
“We're not going after the perpetrators because most of them are going to be overseas. And it's extremely hard to narrow down who those people are,” he said.
Investments scams, including those that involve cryptocurrency, are the riskiest scams out there, according to the Better Business Bureau’s 2024 Scam Tracker. Romance scams ranked third on the list, but according to BBB Director of Foundation Meghan Conradt, those two are often combined.
“Unfortunately, this is something we at the Better Business Bureau see a lot of. And it's actually been increasing over the last couple of years,” Conradt said.
Smeester highlighted multiple red flags that people should look for to ensure they don’t fall victim to romance scams:
- Unable to meet the person physically
- They ask for money and say they need it quickly
- Offering investment advice
The reason crypto scams are so common, Conradt said, is that the industry is still relatively unregulated and doesn’t offer the same protections that some banks and credit card companies can provide to dispute purchases or transfers.
“It's something people aren't really educated about and don't know a whole lot about,” she said. “It's a little bit like the Wild West out there. And the value of it can swing dramatically every day. It could be worth hundreds of thousands one day and worth just a few dollars the next day."
Both Conradt and Smeester said victims are often reluctant to talk about these scams publicly because of the embarrassment involved. However, Conradt said people like this victim can help educate the public and prevent this from happening to others.
“I would say: Don't blame yourself. And I know that's easier said than done. You were taken advantage of. And unfortunately, this is something that we see happen to a lot of people,” she said. “This can happen to anybody, and there are resources here to help you. And we'll do our best to help you recover from this, if that's the point that you're at and if you're ready for those kinds of services.”
The victim’s case is still open and Smeester said they have some hope of recovering the victim’s money.
“I am not a rich man by any stretch of the imagination. I'm a blue collar worker. And hopefully one day this will turn around and help somebody else out in my shoes,” the victim said.
