A woman from Tennessee claimed to have lost around $390,000 to a man she met on the online dating app Hinge. The man convinced her to place her money into a cryptocurrency investment program, which turned out to be a ruse.
Nicole Hutchinson said she met a man who called himself "Hao" on Hinge. He claimed to have been a rich Chinese architect living in Florida. The two became friends and were in constant communication. Hutchinson said she had felt a strong connection with the man, and they soon formed a relationship online. Hao reportedly told her that he wanted to take her to China to meet his family.
The 24-year-old recently received a $280,000 inheritance, which she received when her mother died. Hao told her that he was an active investor in cryptocurrency and that she should also invest her money. Hutchinson then created an account on the website Crypto.com, where she invested some of her money and some of her father's money.
Hutchinson said she only invested small amounts at first but then went on to deposit larger amounts to a different website that Hao suggested would have better returns. It all went well at first as Hutchinson had seen some profits from her investment; it was at this time that she invested all of her money and that of her father.
In December, Hutchinson had an account with a balance of $1.2 million with the new website. Unfortunately, when she tried to withdraw the money, she was asked to pay a "tax bill." By this time, Hutchinson realized that the entire program was a scam, and she had lost all her initial investments.
In an interview, Hutchinson claimed that what she had done had messed up her life and her dad's life. The two are now living inside an RV after having lost everything.
Investigators said Hao lured Hutchinson using a legitimate site, showing her that there were profits to be made in investing in crypto. However, the wallet addresses that were given to her afterward were to digital wallets owned by the scammers.
Cypto.com said consumers and would-be investors should first verify the legitimacy of the wallet addresses they are transferring money into. The company said it is actively suspending wallets linked to scams. Hinge also released a statement, assuring its users that it takes fraud cases "very seriously," and it is investigating accounts that are involved in such scams.
A report from the Federal Trade Commission found that the number of romance scams, which entail feigning romantic love in order to defraud a victim, has increased dramatically throughout the pandemic. Last year, the agency received almost 56,000 reports of romantic scams, amounting to a whopping $139 million in damages for victims.
