CLEVELAND, Ohio — There are numerous red flags to look out for when it comes to scams, and I’ve learned how frequently they can be overlooked, having spoken to my share of victims over the years.
I learned that one of the most recent victims handed over what likely adds up to the largest cryptocurrency scam losses in Solon history.
When the recent fraud case hit Lt. Victor Vajdich's desk, he did a double-take.
"The first time we hear about the possible amount that was involved, you know, there's got to be some kind of mistake," said Vajdich.
But unfortunately, for a 63-year-old Solon man, the figure was accurate.
"Yeah, it's over $1,000,000 of financial loss that this individual has," said Vajdich.
It was a friendship with a stranger, forged on Facebook, that left the man in financial ruin.
"And then through chatting, this person was talking about how they made some money on crypto investing, and it provided some information and, you know, some, hey, here's some of my reports. So, what I made, yeah, you could do it too," said Vajdich.
The reports were all bogus, and the person eventually convinced the victim to take their crypto chat to a different app
"One of the reasons is because it's harder to get information on an investigative way of looking at things. So, they get them on WhatsApp, stuff's encrypted, so it's harder for us to see it," said Vajdich.
Over the course of several months, the Solon man thought he tripled his investment.
"So, his whole balance is over $3 million and he wants to take some money out. So, good plan, right? He made a lot of money," said Vajdich.
When the victim puts in a request with the fake crypto company to withdraw some of the cash, he's told he needs to pay fees and taxes up front.
"They're starting to try to bleed him for more money, and this is probably going to be the end of the line for the scam," said Vajdich.
That's when the victim realized something wasn't quite right and contacted his banks and police.
"This can happen to anybody, all walks of life. Young, old, any education level and amount of money you have in the bank account the fraudsters are going to go after you," said Milan Kosanovich.
Kosanovich is a special agent with the FBI in Cleveland.
He is part of a task force that works to recover funds lost in cryptocurrency scams like these.
“Give me an address you sent money to, that information, every transaction after that is public and I can follow that and see if I can't find somewhere that it ended up where maybe we can find your money back," said Kosanovich.
However, because bad actors cash out overseas or are likely located there themselves, agents often face roadblocks or dead ends in their investigations.
The Solon man may only get a small fraction of his million dollars back.
It’s a painful lesson and reminder for all of us.
“You know, it's embarrassing, you got tricked, you don't want to be judged, but you have to report it, and we have to talk about it, otherwise more people are going to fall into it," said Vajdich.
When it comes to those red flags, in this case, there were several.
- One, a stranger online starts talking to you about investing in cryptocurrency.
- Two, your chat is moved to a more private, encrypted app.
- Finally, the return on investment seems too good to be true.
