"Even now, face to face with his decimated savings, it's hard to reconcile the five-month relationship he had with a Finnish woman in Florida with the elaborate scam it now clearly was. It felt different than a typical con - too personal, too involved, too reciprocal. But really, what's known as " pig butchering " schemes - where scammers build relationships and trust with victims before tricking them into sham cryptocurrency investments - have become particularly pervasive, with some operations tied to mass scam centers based abroad."
"For weeks, the victim in this case, a Santa Rosa man in his 70s, and Alexa Achselsson, or so she said, messaged every day after meeting on a niche social media and dating site in April. They talked for hours, sometimes by video chat. At one point she even sent him gifts, an expensive pickleball paddle and clothing. There'd been a planned visit, although it was canceled last-minute, supposedly because of a family emergency just after she'd arrived at the airport in San Francisco."
An elderly Santa Rosa man developed a five-month online relationship with a woman identifying as Finnish, who claimed to teach pilates and yoga and sent gifts. They messaged daily, video chatted, and planned a visit canceled for a supposed family emergency. The woman described investing with an aunt who predicted cryptocurrency trends and encouraged the man to invest part of his roughly $500,000 retirement savings. The man's savings were decimated after being persuaded into sham cryptocurrency investments. These operations, known as 'pig butchering' schemes, build emotional trust before stealing funds and are often tied to mass scam centers abroad.
Read at The Mercury News
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