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A man looking to retire in Santa Rosa, California has reportedly lost his life savings after falling victim to a devastating romance scam.
The 70-year-old man, who has asked to remain anonymous, lost his life savings of $500,000 after becoming the victim of a months-long pig-butchering scam, reports The Star.
Pig-butchering schemes are when bad actors “fatten up” a victim by pretending to have an intimate relationship with them as a means of earning their trust to steal their funds.
The report says the man believed he was talking to a Finnish woman from Florida for many months after meeting on a dating site. The bad actor went as far as gifting him expensive items, convincing him that she was the owner of a pilates and yoga studio funded by her aunt’s cryptocurrency firm. Eventually, she convinced him to trade crypto.
Guided by the scammer, he saw his supposed profits skyrocket as the trading account swelled to about $1 million.
But went to withdraw his funds, he was told he had to pay $100,000 worth of capital gains taxes. To cover the fee, the man then took out loans.
At that point, the victim did some digging, and found out that the crypto trading website was fake and that his funds are gone.
