FORT PIERCE, Fla. (WPEC) — Grandfather and veteran Bob Nelson stated he needs he had seen the warning indicators earlier than investing his whole life savings into what ended up being a cryptocurrency scam.
They have been all very skilled how they have been presenting this. I had no idea. No idea until all my money was gone,” Nelson stated. “Really disappointing, humiliating and infuriating.”
Cryptocurrency schemes price customers $3.8 billion final yr, twice as a lot as in 2021, in response to the Federal Commerce Fee.
Nelson stated he thought this was his massive break. A younger lady approached him on Fb, and after constructing a relationship, they begin speaking about cryptocurrency.
“She began telling me how a lot money she was making on bitcoin futures and that me, after all,” Nelson stated.
The lady satisfied him to make an account on what he thought was the well-known token buying and selling website referred to as Curve. Nelson watched his investments double, then triple. Inside weeks, he was making lots of of 1000’s of {dollars} exchanging crypto on-line, sufficient money to care for his whole household–or so he thought.
“Nicely, I believed this appears to be working so properly I borrow some extra money and despatched extra wires in,” Nelson stated.
Issues took a flip when he tried shifting all the pieces into his digital pockets. Nelson stated a safety error got here up on his account telling him he wanted to place in virtually $100,000 extra in order to entry his money. That’s when Nelson stated he realized the positioning was faux, however by then, it was too late.
I don’t know the place I’m going from right here. I do not know. It is actual powerful,” Nelson stated.
These with the Federal Commerce Fee say to watch out for on-line love pursuits attempting to offer funding recommendation. Earlier than placing your data on-line, additionally be certain to authenticate the web site it’s happening.
Nelson stated he contacted each native and federal authorities.
WPEC spoke with representatives on the Secret Service headquarters in Miami who they are saying sadly, they cope with instances like this each single day.