Shreya Datta converted some of her savings into cryptocurrency.
Philadelphia, USA:
The “wine trader” had been wooing her online for months with witty smiles and emoji-filled texts. He then committed murder and defrauded a Philadelphia-based technology expert of his $450,000 in a cryptocurrency romance scam.
The scam left Shreya Dutta, 37, drained of her savings and retirement funds while racking up debt, and a digitally altered deepfake video that left her feeling like her “brain was hacked”. Advanced scripting was used.
The scam is commonly known as “pig butchering,” where victims are compared to pigs who are fattened with fake love by scammers before the proverbial slaughter and are tricked into making fake cryptocurrency investments.
The rapidly expanding scam, believed to be the work of a Southeast Asian criminal organization, has cost the United States billions of dollars, and victims say they have few options to get their money back.
Like many victims, Dutta's story began on a dating app called Hinge. In her case, it was there last January that she met “Ansel,” who introduced himself as a French wine trader based in Philadelphia.
Dutta said the conversation quickly turned to WhatsApp and there was “an explosion of charisma.” The gym enthusiast with her dreamy smile deleted her Hinge profile to give her 'undivided attention', a refreshing experience in her fleeting days of online relationships Did.
They exchanged selfies and flirtatious emojis and had a short video call, during which a quiet but “shy” man posed with a dog in what was later revealed to be an AI deepfake. There was found.
They emailed daily, and “Ansel” asked about trivial things like whether he had eaten, preying on Mr. Dutta's desire for a caring companion after his divorce.
Plans to meet physically continued to be postponed, but Dutta didn't immediately doubt it. Last Valentine's Day, she received a bouquet of flowers from “Ansel” from a florist in Philadelphia, and her card said “Honey Cream.”
She sent him a selfie posing with flowers and he sprayed her with a red hickey emoji, according to a WhatsApp exchange seen by AFP.
“It’s traumatic.”
In between the muddy exchanges, Ansel sold her a dream.
“The dream was, 'I'm going to retire early and be rich. What's the plan?'” Datta, who is originally from India, told AFP.
“He said, 'I've made all this money investing, do you really want to work until you're 65?'”
He sent her a link to download a cryptocurrency trading app, which included two-factor authentication to make it appear legitimate, through an annotated screenshot seen by AFP. He showed her what he called a money-making deal.
Dutta exchanged some of his savings into cryptocurrencies on the US-based exchange Coinbase, initially through a fake app that allowed him to withdraw initial profits, which gave him confidence to invest further.
“When you make astronomical amounts of money trading, your normal perception of risk gets disrupted,” Dutta says in retrospect.
“I feel like, 'Wow, I can do more.'”
“Ansel” encouraged her to invest more of her savings, take out a loan and, despite her reluctance, liquidate her retirement funds.
By March, Dutta's nearly $450,000 investment had more than doubled on paper, but alarm bells rang when she tried to withdraw the money and the app showed her private account. demanded “tax”.
She consulted her brother, who is based in London. Her brother did a reverse image search on the photo sent to him by “Ansel” and discovered it was of the German fitness influencer.
“When I realized it was all a scam and all my money was gone, I had proper PTSD symptoms. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I couldn't function,” Dutta said.
“It was very traumatic.”
– “Brainwashing” –
Dating sites are awash with misinformation, with Facebook groups like “Tinder Scammers Dating Scams” and “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” Researchers say the use of AI-generated profile photos is on the rise.
But the use of romance as a hook to commit financial fraud is raising new alarms.
The FBI told AFP that more than 40,000 people reported losses totaling well over $3.5 billion to the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center last year to crypto fraud, including pig butchering.
However, that estimate is likely low because many victims feel shame and tend not to report crimes.
“The horrific thing about this crime is that it is designed to take every last penny from the victim,” California-based prosecutor Erin West told AFP. “We're inundated with it,” he added.
Activists say self-harm among victims is a common concern, with most unable to recover their losses and some falling prey to a different type of scammer: fake recovery agents.
Dutta, who is undergoing treatment and has moved into a smaller apartment to manage his debts, said he has little hope of getting back on his feet after reporting the crime to the FBI and Secret Service.
Neither agency responded to AFP's questions about her specific case. Coinbase also failed to notify Mr. Datta via email that he may have sent virtual currency to a fraudulent investment platform after he was deceived.
What was even more painful, Datta said, was dealing with public judgment: “How could you be so stupid?”
“There is no shame in being the victim of this completely sophisticated psychological scam,” West said.
“The victims are really brainwashed.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
