53-year-old bank CEO loses $47M to pig butchering scam via WhatsApp and crypto investments, 24-year prison sentence in August 2023
Summary
A 53-year-old bank CEO from Elkhart, Kansas, lost $47 million in a pig butchering scam between December 2022 and July 2023, transferring funds from his personal savings, church, and bank deposits into cryptocurrency investments. The scam began with a mistaken WhatsApp message and evolved into a months-long relationship before the fraudster convinced him to invest in crypto. In August 2023, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 24 years in prison. The FBI recovered $8 million of the stolen funds by November 2023. A 37-year-old programmer in Philadelphia also lost $450,000 in a similar scam after being courted online by a fake European investor who convinced her to invest in a cryptocurrency platform. The platform later demanded additional fees before she realized it was a scam.
Sources
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