ECONOMY & WORK
MONEY 101
NEWS
PERSONAL FINANCE
NET WORTH
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use DMCA Opt-out of personalized ads
© Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Market Realist is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
MARKETREALIST.COM / NEWS

Senior Citizen Loses Over $700K in Crypto Investment Scam, Blames Bank for Failing to Protect Her

The scammer convinced her to download a crypto trading app and invest all her savings and retirement funds into the currencies.
UPDATED FEB 23, 2024
Cover Image Source: Senior citizens become victims in bank and pig butchering scams (representative image) | Burst | Photo by Jp Valery
Cover Image Source: Senior citizens become victims in bank and pig butchering scams (representative image) | Burst | Photo by Jp Valery

Technology is changing the way we look at banking, investments, and finances. As new trends emerge on social media, scammers find more ways of online fraud. Bank scams are not just limited to stealing personal or banking information. The scammers are luring the victims to invest, causing them a huge financial loss. Middle-class people often make the mistake of investing all their life savings, and if they are scammed, they are left with nothing. Senior citizens are most vulnerable to such scams and one such scam happened with an old lady who indulged herself into crypto investments and ended up losing $700K. Let's delve into the details of the scam story and whether she got her money back.



 

An 80-year-old widowed Taiwanese immigrant, Alice Lin shared her story on how she lost almost all her savings in the CryptoRom scams and held the Chase Bank authorities responsible for not even notifying her, per CBS News. She was already struggling to pay her bills and save for her retirement when she received an unexpected message on WeChat. The man lured her by talking to her nicely and offered to teach her about several investment options. Some days later, he convinced her to download a crypto trading app and invest all her savings and retirement funds into the currencies. Lin sat back and relaxed, thinking it was an actual investment that would secure her old age.

Lin got associated with the scammer in 2022 and further shared how the scammer talked to her regularly, just to win her confidence. The man taught Lin about how to invest and send money to others. The results were shocking as the app turned out to be a sham and Lin ended up sending $720,000 to that man who never again talked to her after receiving the money. That was the moment when she realized that she had been scammed.

PARIS, FRANCE - FEBRUARY 16: In this photo illustration, a visual representation of digital cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethernum, Dash, Monero and Litecoin is displayed on February 16, 2018 in Paris, France. Digital cryptocurrencies have seen unprecedented growth in 2017, despite remaining extremely volatile. (Photo Illustration by Chesnot/Getty Images)
A visual representation of digital cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum, Dash, Monero and Litecoin | Photo Illustration by Chesnot | Getty Images

After losing all her hard-earned life savings, she decided to sue the bank. She said, "Only if they had done a little something to protect elders like me from being scammed, I wouldn't be where I am now. An 80-year-old widow left to pick up the pieces of my life." As per the details of the filed lawsuit, the woman did not have much money in her account but was spending thousands of dollars through her investment account. Lin said that nobody from Chase Bank came up to her or even messaged her saying, "Hey, you know, maybe this is a little bit concerning that your banking transaction is completely different than your normal behavior." To her surprise, her daughter who was the joint owner of the account was also not warned about such unsolicited transactions.



 

A Chase Bank spokesperson revealed something opposite to KCAL News saying that they did their part and even the manager asked questions to Lin before doing such huge wire transfers. They also said that she was warned before the big transactions and told that she might be unable to recover the money in the event of fraud. According to the bank, she had also read a warning on how to protect oneself from scams.  As per the FBI, Americans have lost over $3 billion falling victim to such bank and other online scams in 2022.

MORE ON MARKET REALIST
After the contestant, Drew Carey broke the board further while trying to fix it...
8 hours ago
As it so turned out, a crucial ruling from the judges led to a BIG win for the player.
10 hours ago
When a guest brought a precious Charles Rohlfs chair, expert John Sollo confessed that he was nervous to appraise it.
12 hours ago
The guest had no idea about the item being a Tiffany product and being embedded with a rare gem.
1 day ago
The host was baffled by the goof up that the contestant made between two words.
1 day ago
Carey showed that he has got the weapon of sarcasm, and he isn't afraid to use it.
1 day ago
Whatever the host was expecting, it was far away from what the contestant said on national TV.
1 day ago
The guest was surprised to learn more about the item he had actually found on the street for free.
1 day ago
After going through everything on the board, the player left Harvey in hysterics with his answer.
2 days ago
As it so turned out, the weird-looking floor lamp was a piece from a very famous studio.
2 days ago
Most contestants were consistently getting the answers wrong, and Harvey was worried about what was next.
3 days ago
Some claimed that they got the puzzle despite English being their second language.
3 days ago
The letter was written to a columnist in response to a piece taking a swipe at Sinatra.
3 days ago
In a special episode of Celebrity Family Feud, a WWE star decided to go for the one thing Harvey is known for.
3 days ago
Luck was shining for her as she was off to a flying start and won the car with a single card.
3 days ago
Sajak had a witty reply for the contestant who was fanboying over White during the game.
6 days ago
The model said that considering White's age she would also take the offer from Sony.
6 days ago
Sheila won a brand new entertainment unit, complete with an HD plasma TV and mini bar from Howard Miller.
7 days ago
The appraiser disclosed that Yoakum began painting in the 1960s and he created one unique piece of art every single day.
7 days ago
The entrepreneur also managed to get the sharks to taste the vegan alternative meant for pets.
7 days ago