In short
- A San Jose widow lost nearly $1 million after a scammer posing as her romantic partner forced her into fake cryptocurrency investments.
- The victim asked ChatGPT about the investment claims and the AI warned that the setup matched a known scam.
- Regulators say relationship-based cryptocurrency fraud remains one of the fastest-growing forms of financial fraud.
A San Jose widow who believed she had found a new lover online lost nearly $1 million in a cryptocurrency ‘pig butchering’ scam, only to find out after asking ChatGPT if the investment offer made sense.
The plan depleted her retirement accounts and put her at risk of losing her home, according to the San Jose-based report. ABC7 News.
A woman named Margaret Loke met a man calling himself ‘Ed’ on Facebook last May. Their relationship quickly moved to WhatsApp, where the man, who claimed to be a wealthy businessman, sent her daily loving messages, encouraging her to reveal his secrets.
As our online relationship deepened, daily check-ins became a constant.
“He was really nice to me and greeted me every morning,” Loke told ABC7 News. “He sends me a ‘good morning’ message every day. He says he likes me.”
The conversation soon turned to cryptocurrency investing. Although Loke said he had no trading experience, “Ed” guided him on how to transfer funds to an online account “he” controlled.
According to Loke, Ed showed her screenshots of the app that showed her making “huge profits in seconds.” This is a common tactic in hog-slaughter schemes that use fabricated results to convince victims that their money is growing.
Pig slaughter scams are long-running scams where scammers build relationships with victims over weeks or months before luring them into fake investment platforms and siphoning off their savings.
In August, Mehta said it had removed more than 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts linked to the pig slaughter scam.
As the fraud progressed, Loke said he sent a series of transfers from the IRA, starting with $15,000 and increasing to more than $490,000.
She eventually took out a second mortgage of $300,000 and wired those funds in as well. She sent a total of nearly $1 million to accounts controlled by scammers.
A fraud exposed by an unexpected ally
When her cryptocurrency account was suddenly “frozen,” “Ed” demanded an additional $1 million to free the funds. Embarrassed, Loke explained the situation to ChatGPT.
“ChatGPT told me: No, this is a scam. I recommend going to the police,” she said. ABC7.
The AI responded that the setup matched a known pattern of fraud, prompting her to contact the police after confronting a man she thought she was dating.
Investigators later determined that she had transferred the money to a Malaysian bank, where the fraudsters withdrew it.
“Why am I so stupid? I let him fool me!” Locke said. “I was really, really depressed.”
Loke’s case is the latest example of ChatGPT being used to catch scammers.
Last week, an IT expert in Delhi said he had ‘vibe-coded’ a website that could reveal the location and photos of would-be scammers.
OpenAI did not immediately respond. detoxification Request for Opinion.
Cybercrime trends on the rise
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), online fraud targeting older Americans will result in $9.3 billion in losses in 2024.
Many of these scams originate from compounds in Europe or Southeast Asia, with large groups of fraudsters targeting international victims. Last September, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned 19 entities it said had defrauded Americans across Burma and Cambodia.
“Southeast Asia’s cyber fraud industry not only threatens the well-being and financial security of Americans, it is turning thousands of people into modern-day slavery,” John K. Hurley, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a statement.
Consumer agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), warn that unsolicited cryptocurrency ‘coaching’ initiated within online relationships is a hallmark of relationship fraud. This is a long-term scam where the scammer builds emotional trust before luring the victim into fake investments.
Loke’s case followed this pattern, with increasing pressure to deposit more and more money.
Federal regulators warn that recovering funds from overseas hog slaughter operations is extremely rare once the money leaves U.S. banking channels, leaving victims like Loke with little recourse.
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