Double Scam: Author Caught in Recovery Scheme After Crypto Dating Fraud

Double Scam: Author Caught in Recovery Scheme After Crypto Dating Fraud

From The Perfect Scam by AARP

February 13, 2026 · 57 min · Episode 245

About this episode

The episode explores Josh's experience of being scammed through a dating site and his subsequent attempts to recover his lost cryptocurrency.

Josh loves his job as a full-time novelist, but writing and working from home don't give him many opportunities to meet people. So he decides to try a dating site and connects with a woman named Hannah. After months of conversation and growing closer, Hannah tells Josh about her cryptocurrency investments and encourages him to invest as well. Over time, he puts in more than $100,000 and watches his money grow. When he tries to withdraw money from his account, it is frozen and Hannah disappears. Panicked, Josh searches for help online and finds a company that claims to trace and recover stolen crypto funds. The tragedy only deepens when he turns to family for help paying the company's fees.

People in this episode

Guest: Josh

Topics covered

  • scams
  • cryptocurrency
  • dating fraud
  • financial recovery
  • personal tragedy

Keywords

  • scam
  • cryptocurrency
  • dating site
  • financial loss
  • recovery scheme

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: AARP

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