A man planning to dump his girlfriend after she lost $14,500 in a crypto scam is being backed online.
Venting his frustration on Reddit’s r/TrueOffMyChest forum on August 2, user u/Comfortable_Soft7418 said he can no longer take his girlfriend’s “naivety,” after she lost her college tuition fund to a scam on social media.
“She knows nothing about crypto at all, nobody we know invests in it, and she fell for the scam over Twitter,” he wrote.
“That money was not just hers, her parents and I contributed most of it. She only works part-time as a server so it really feels great to know that the last 5 months of saving away has been for nothing because she naively thought a 12-hour-old account on Twitter was going to give her 50 bitcoins because she won a giveaway.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission, one in four people who fell victim to a scam in 2021 said the ruse began with a social media ad, message or post. This made social media the most profitable funnel for con artists last year, with over 95,000 Americans losing $770 million to this type of fraud. Losses from social media scams in 2021 were 18 times higher than in 2017, with an increase in cases reported across all age groups.
Despite the belief that older people are most at-risk, data shows that younger people actually fall for scams more often. The 18- to 39-year-old age group are twice as likely as older people to be conned on social media, with the biggest losses tied to scammers posing as online retailers.
Other common tactics victims reported included romance scams and investment scams, with Facebook and Instagram a hub for fraudsters. Twenty-seven percent of victims reported being scammed in “other” ways, such as phone scams.
This isn’t the first time Comfortable_Soft7418’s girlfriend has fallen for an online scam. Describing her as a “moron,” he explained she “falls for things so quickly it’s kind of absurd.”
“She’s always falling for sham pseudoscience scams and buying incredibly expensive supplements and products,” he said.
“She actually believes the youtube scam ads and will freely give away her credit card info to any site she finds herself on.
“Those are easy enough to get past, however, because 50$ of some stupid bottle of pills is one thing, 14.5k is another.”
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However, this latest con, in which she lost his money as well as her own, was a step too far. He intends to end the relationship, but not until he’s warned her parents about the loss, so they don’t “get dropkicked” with the information.
“I’m just tired I guess,” he said.
“She actually still believed after a week that the transaction to transfer the 50 bitcoin to her wallet was still ‘on hold’ and it was only me discovering her bank account had been emptied that I figured out she messed up massively.
“I don’t even have the heart to tell her parents right now that their daughter just messed up so massively that she actually cannot attend school this semester.”
To get her money, his soon-to-be ex is planning to contact the FBI, not only to get back her lost tuition, but the bitcoin she was promised. In the meantime, she intends to continue with school.
“The fact that she cannot pay for her tuition this semester does not even cross her mind,” he wrote.
“She still plans to attend classes and ‘just take out a loan or something’ until the ‘FBI’ gets her money back for her.”
Reddit users were shocked by the girlfriend’s naivety, with the post receiving 10,000 upvotes and almost 1,000 comments, many from people asking for an update on the story.
“I need the update where she pays the FBI $500 to assist with legal funds,” said Zayt08.
“Damn.. if she just sends me a few grand I’d be happy to send her 51 bitcoins to make up for her loss,” commented Aggressive_Action.
“It’s tough when someone you care about is dumb as a rock,” wrote fielddaydownstairs.
While Heisenbread77 advised the man he’ll “save a lot of money by switching to single.”
Others shared their own stories of fraud.
“I have a coworker like this,” commented Que_sax23.
“He once gave his debit card info to a letter saying he owed $500 for a Kay jewelers credit card he took out. I asked if he even had one of those and he said no.
“So why did you give them your money Michael?? I’ve had to stop him from doing many idiots moves like this.”
Sarcasmbecomesme’s said: “I had a friend that called me all excited because she may have won a lottery. I asked how much, she said a million, and I was immediately suspicious.
“After a few questions, I found out she had gotten a scam email, the kind that wants you to provide your bank account and some money up front. She was all set to do it.
“I am so glad she called me first. She was horrified and then sad that it was just a scam and she hadn’t actually won anything.”
Newsweek has reached out to u/Comfortable_Soft7418 for comment.
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