Falling Victim to a $10,000 Bitcoin Scam

[Smith1776]

It happens to the best of us I suppose. I have a friend, we'll call her Jane, who is actually quite keen and smart. She's one of my coworkers and is a terrific manager. Unfortunately, she does not a have a background in finance, and is not particularly tech savvy. This has recently ended up being a disastrous combination.

Jane was scrolling Instagram a month or two back and came across the account of a woman calling herself Catherine (https://www.instagram.com/catherine_pay_checks/). Catherine claimed to be making people rich by trading binary options on Bitcoin. Ever the long con, Catherine took the time to groom victims. Instead of the immediate hard sell, she befriended Jane over the course of about a month. Just chatting, not even mentioning how she would make Jane rich. That is, until Jane herself mentioned it.

With thousands of followers, legitimate looking testimonials, and a beaming confidence, Catherine got Jane to "invest" an initial $1,000 with this binary options strategy. After just a few days, Jane received her supposed profits from the strategy. This return of "profits" of course, was simply bait to encourage Jane to deposit even more cash. All told, Jane deposited some $10,000 with Catherine. (I have yet to calculate the exact amount of loss due to interim Bitcoin price fluctuations.)

A few days ago, Catherine simply disappeared.

Jane's Bitcoin funds are gone. Catherine blocked her on all social media accounts. The managed account on the bogus trading platform has been locked. What's worse, when signing up for this alleged trading service, Jane gave Catherine her driver's license and a modicum of personal information.

We're in disaster recovery mode now. I'm helping Jane now go through with filing reports, keeping on top of identity theft, and just generally consoling her. Take this as a cautionary tale for your loved ones! I have a hard time imagining that the finance minded people on this forum would fall for this kind of scam, but it can happen to our family and friends that don't have the radar for this kind of stuff. Stay safe!

[Smith1776]

Sorry to hear. That sux. Prob not a good idea to invest with someone you meet on social media?

Yup. Totally. Although I haven't admonished or scolded her in the least. She's feeling foolish and regretful enough already, so I definitely won't pile on.

[dualstow]

Very interesting story. I feel a little bit sorry for those who are partially victims of their own greed, like the guy who got scammed by Saul Goodman (when he was ‘Slippin’ Jimmy’) over the fancy watch in an early episode of Better Call Saul.

My Dad is fairly savvy, but he was the victim of identity theft through no fault of his own. It began with a SIM card theft, an inside job at the phone company. With my Dad’s tel number (but not his physical phone), he was able to access Dad’s email, which Dad was never able to recover.

Since then, my 80+year old Dad spends 20 minutes every morning making sure there are no more fraudulently opened accounts, credit cards, loans, Amazon purchases, and all the other bullshite the thief has been attempting since the SIM thing.

This has been going on for nearly a year now.
—-
Back to your manager, I agree. She has probably beaten herself up about it that she doesn’t need to be scolded. She has learned a valuable life lesson.

[Libertarian666]

This is a good example of the old saying "You can't cheat an honest man."

[Smith1776]

Very interesting story. I feel a little bit sorry for those who are partially victims of their own greed, like the guy who got scammed by Saul Goodman (when he was ‘Slippin’ Jimmy’) over the fancy watch in an early episode of Better Call Saul.

My Dad is fairly savvy, but he was the victim of identity theft through no fault of his own. It began with a SIM card theft, an inside job at the phone company. With my Dad’s tel number (but not his physical phone), he was able to access Dad’s email, which Dad was never able to recover.

Since then, my 80+year old Dad spends 20 minutes every morning making sure there are no more fraudulently opened accounts, credit cards, loans, Amazon purchases, and all the other bullshite the thief has been attempting since the SIM thing.

This has been going on for nearly a year now.
—-
Back to your manager, I agree. She has probably beaten herself up about it that she doesn’t need to be scolded. She has learned a valuable life lesson.

I loved Better Call Saul so much that I finished the whole show on Netflix in like 4 or 5 days. It's SO good.

I can't believe I didn't see that 'Saul Goodman' was a play on 's'all good man' throughout the whole of Breaking Bad. Very clever.

Your dad and my dad sound like they'd get along. My dad is cynical as hell, but it has paid off for him on several instances. Then again, he grew up in China, and business culture there is much more nefarious than much of the developed world. Knowing scams and scammers is par for the course it seems.

[ochotona]

That's terrible.

[Ad Orientem]

The word "scam," when following the word "Bitcoin," is redundant.

[dualstow]

The word "scam," when following the word "Bitcoin," is redundant.

[Smith1776]

I just wanted to provide an update on this situation. My coworker Jane, in an attempt to recoup some of her lost funds, has decided to join a multi-level marketing organization. Specifically Primerica. I don't think she's actually aware that it's an MLM. In my mind it looks like her Bitcoin disaster will likely end in something potentially worse if she continues to pursue this.

I didn't realize Primerica actually operated here in Canada. Be that as it may, I am already starting to see her use vocabulary that is par for the course in MLM schemes. Talk about how "the rich don't work for money" and trying to "help others start their own business".

I don't want to start telling someone else what to do and how to live their life, but I feel like some intervention may be necessary...

[Xan]

Talk about throwing good money (/time/energy) after bad. Sometimes you just have to learn a lesson and move on.

[Tortoise]

Relevant

[Libertarian666]

I just wanted to provide an update on this situation. My coworker Jane, in an attempt to recoup some of her lost funds, has decided to join a multi-level marketing organization. Specifically Primerica. I don't think she's actually aware that it's an MLM. In my mind it looks like her Bitcoin disaster will likely end in something potentially worse if she continues to pursue this.

I didn't realize Primerica actually operated here in Canada. Be that as it may, I am already starting to see her use vocabulary that is par for the course in MLM schemes. Talk about how "the rich don't work for money" and trying to "help others start their own business".

I don't want to start telling someone else what to do and how to live their life, but I feel like some intervention may be necessary...

It won't do any good. All that will happen is that she will get mad at you.

[flyingpylon]

I just wanted to provide an update on this situation. My coworker Jane, in an attempt to recoup some of her lost funds, has decided to join a multi-level marketing organization. Specifically Primerica. I don't think she's actually aware that it's an MLM. In my mind it looks like her Bitcoin disaster will likely end in something potentially worse if she continues to pursue this.

I didn't realize Primerica actually operated here in Canada. Be that as it may, I am already starting to see her use vocabulary that is par for the course in MLM schemes. Talk about how "the rich don't work for money" and trying to "help others start their own business".

I don't want to start telling someone else what to do and how to live their life, but I feel like some intervention may be necessary...

It won't do any good. All that will happen is that she will get mad at you.

This has been my experience as well.

[Smith1776]

That's true. I don't want to damage my relationship with this person either. Interestingly she is not the only person in my workplace into this stuff.

What's really funny is when people try to tell you how rich they're getting off of an MLM but yet they're still working regular day jobs.