
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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