Can you lose hundreds of thousands of dollars just by answering what looks like a wrong number text? You certainly can. It happened to a Clinton County, Iowa, man we’ll call Boston. Here’s the story.

If you read this column, remember I write about all the phony text messages we get, telling us about packages awaiting delivery, unauthorized charges from Paypal, unpaid highway tolls, and just innocent looking messages such as “I need to re-schedule our lunch” or even “How are you doing?”

You might consider these last two examples as just sent to the wrong number. That’s what Boston thought when he received a text message, “Hello Mark, I’ve been expecting your call”.

Boston is a good-hearted man, and felt he did the right thing by replying, telling the sender she reached the wrong number. The sender thanked him and complimented him on his thoughtfulness. She said she was driving, and sent a photo of herself, which showed an attractive woman behind the wheel of a car, and named herself as Julie.

She kept up the text thread, turning Boston into a friend. Within two weeks, Julie persuaded Boston to communicate through Telegram, a messaging app. She told Boston she made a lot of money investing in cryptocurrency and offered him a chance to do the same. To prove herself, Julie sent a photo of her resident alien card, a government-issued ID.

Over the course of the next month, Boston wired large sums of money to U.S. banks to invest with Julie. Julie sent Boston charts showing enormous, fast profits from his investments. When his fortune reached $1.6 million, he decided to cash out. Julie said he needed to pay tens of thousands of dollars more to cash out. When Boston’s credit union refused to wire the money, Julie went radio silent and disappeared with Boston’s investment.

Some months later, Boston received more messages from a law firm which said they held a government contract to recover his defrauded funds, plus some of the profits he made investing in cryptocurrency. To prove themselves, this law firm furnished elaborate records to Boston, including police reports, internet tracking, and messages from other victims who got their money back. The law firm only wanted $5,000 to handle this recovery.

Boston got in touch with his bank and me, and we unraveled the scheme.

What happened to Boston is called “pig butchering”. Scammers “fatten the pig” or the victim, coaxing more money from them, until the slaughter, when the scammers and the money disappear. In this case, the crooks wanted to keep the scam going with a recovery scam, when they offered Boston the opportunity to get his money back for an upfront fee.

And it all started with good-hearted Boston letting someone know they sent a message to a wrong number.

Scammers send out a blizzard of phony texts, emails, and robocalls every day. Their sole purpose is to get us to engage with them. Do not respond to an unexpected or unsolicited text, phone call, or robocall unless you know who sent it.

Investing in cryptocurrency is extremely risky in best-case scenarios. Investing with someone you never met is not a best-case scenario.

Contact Seniors vs. Crime

Let me know about scams, fraud, or other crookedness you run across. Most of what I learn, I learn from you. Contact me at Seniors vs. Crime, Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, 563-242-9211, Extension 4433, or email me at randymeier@gapa911.us.