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A Bitcoiner has reportedly lost his holdings to a pig butchering scam despite several warnings.
“I’m beyond crushed on many different levels,” the purported victim identified only as “Thomas” said in a Dec. 14 text message shared by Bitcoin adviser Terence Michael. “I don’t know what to do moving forward.”
Thomas is not wealthy, according to Michael. Thomas is a divorcee with a young daughter who had just managed to save up to 1 BTC, Michael said.
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Michael said he helped Thomas set up a multisignature wallet with Bitcoin financial services companies, The Bitcoin Adviser and Unchained, for security and to facilitate inheritance.
However, within a few days of setting up the multi-sig, Thomas said he was approached by a purported trader who said she could double his money. This “trader” was also an attractive woman whom he had met online and had already fallen for, he said.
For Michael, however, the situation was clear.
“My client was falling for a pig butchering scam,” he said.
A pig butchering scam refers to a long con where scammers build trust with their victims, typically through romance, to lure them into fake investment schemes.
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Michael said he could not convince Thomas to change his mind despite several delay tactics, hours of calls, messages and articles about the scam.
“No matter how much I begged and tried to get as respectfully aggressive as I could he was convinced this was for real, said he was a big boy, and it was his Bitcoin and he wanted to send it to this woman,” he said.
Ultimately, Michael said he let Thomas have his way and things ended as predicted.
“The woman I was talking with didn’t exist,” Thomas said in the text message shared by Michael. “I paid for a ticket to meet her and her family in California for Dec. 26 and now I found out she doesn’t exist.”
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After receiving Thomas’ Bitcoin, the scammer revealed that the relationship was not real, adding that the person in the pictures was AI.
“I post this as a warning to anyone else you might know who falls victim to this scam,” Michael said. “Bitcoin can’t magically double, and it certainly can’t double by someone you haven’t met who is also falling in love with you.”
