SOLON, Ohio (WJW) — Authorities in Ohio have issued a warning about a scam involving cryptocurrency that could end up costing a local man a staggering amount of money.
Police in Salon, Ohio, said a 63-year-old man reported last week that he was a victim of fraud and had lost more than $1 million in a scam that was set into motion earlier this year on one of his social media pages.
“He met somebody through Facebook and just started a casual friendship with this individual he didn’t know from the past,” Solon Police Lt. Bill Vajdich said. “He learned that the individual owned a business, at least he thought owned a business, and had recently been making money through investing in cryptocurrency.”
Investigators said the victim was convinced by his new Facebook “friend” that he too could make a great deal of money by investing in cryptocurrency.
After taking the bait, he began investing in crypto through a phone app and website offered through a company called “Coinget.”
He reported he started receiving statements, indicating that he was getting a large return on his investment.
“After a while, he learned that his original $1 million or $1.25 million investment had ballooned to over $3 million,” said Vajdich.
The victim eventually decided that he wanted to take some money out of the account but was told he would need to pay a penalty for the withdrawal as well as taxes.
He eventually realized he was being given the runaround, and that’s when he decided to contact his bank and Solon police.
The investigation revealed the company the victim thought was investing his money, “Coinget,” does not exist. His funds were actually sent to accounts controlled by a scam artist who had posed as his fake Facebook friend.
Police are sharing the details about the investigation as a public service, reminding would-be investors and their families about the devious yet convincing nature of various crypto scams.
“You shouldn’t mess with cryptocurrency if you’re unfamiliar with how to do it or what it really means. You know, there are ‘get rich quick’ schemes that are out there. This is definitely one of them and crypto is being abused a lot by criminal enterprises. If you’re going on your own and just thinking you can get rich really quick by investing in crypto, you can really be in for it,” said Vajdich.
Police are attempting to identify the million-dollar scammer and retrieve some of the victim’s money, but investigators said, unfortunately, there is a high probability most of the money will never be recovered.
They said the case is a reminder of the old adage, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”