Woman swindled out of $300K worth of Bitcoin by Hinge date in latest romance scam

The scammer promised the woman a honeymoon and life together

A woman has lost almost all of her life savings after falling victim to a Bitcoin scam on the dating app Hinge. The 33-year-old woman began speaking to a man on the app who claimed to be a Chinese architect living in Maryland. The two messaged each other for months but never met in person due to the covid pandemic. Eventually though, the scammer mentioned the topic of cryptocurrencies to the woman, who said she was curious about the world of crypto, the New York Times reports. The man promised her that the money she could make from investing in crypto could pay for their honeymoon and help kickstart their life together. He then sent her a digital wallet address for her to send Bitcoin to. The victim ended up sending more than $300,000 worth of Bitcoin to the digital wallet, which she said looked legitimate and had been told was connected to the Hong Kong crypto exchange. However it went straight into the scammer's wallet, who then vanished. The world of cryptocurrency has become an increasingly popular venue for financial crimes, with crypto fraud seeing an 80 per cent increase in 2021 compared to the year before. According to a report from the FBI, more than 1,800 people have reported falling victim to online romance scams that have led to approximately $133m in losses. The FBI bulletin said that after gaining the victim's trust, the scammer will pretend to be a crypto expert and offer "to help the victim make big money." The bulletin continues: "Once the victim invests, the scammer allows the victim to withdraw a small amount of profit from the alleged account. After the successful withdrawal, the scammer instructs the victim to invest larger amounts of money, and he often pushes the victim to 'act fast.'" The scam is only over when the victim stops sending funds. The FBI reiterated advice that people avoid sharing personal and financial information with someone online and for people to be wary of someone saying to "act fast" to make the most of what they claim to be an exclusive investment opportunity. Related links:

• Tinder Swindler now has a legit job making $30K in three days
• Gareth Southgate seeks legal advice after name used to promote cryptocurrency scam
• Two brothers vanish with $3.6 billion of bitcoin in what could be the biggest crypto heist in history