Dennis Corey Loses $200K to Crypto Fraud

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released a new report suggesting that more than $13 million was stolen from residents of the state of Oregon during the first ten months of 2022. For individuals like Dennis Corey, who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to crypto fraud, the situation couldn’t be any worse.

Dennis Corey Has Lost a Lot of Money

Based in the city of Portland, Corey explained in a recent interview that he parted with $200,000 worth of funds and plunked them into a phony crypto exchange. He didn’t realize the platform was under the control of cyberthieves and didn’t understand he was being scammed until he had lost a lot. He stated:

I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to get out of it; how I’m going to get my bills paid off.

He’s hoping his commentary can shed light on the situation and show others how they can avoid similar schemes. He said things started off well when a stranger reached out to him on social media. A flirty message came through Facebook messenger, and things went on from there. Corey mentioned:

He was a mutual friend, or I thought he was a mutual friend on Facebook, and so then we just started chatting.

However, what came next is what the FBI describes as a classic case of crypto fraud. Kieran Ramsey – special agent in charge of the organization’s Portland office – explained:

With the socially engineered crypto investment fraud schemes, somebody will get in touch with somebody, via social media (through messaging, through email) and start soliciting this next great thing, this next great investment opportunity with cryptocurrency. They’ll then perhaps move them into a private messaging chat.

In many ways, the situation is reminiscent of a romance scam, a crypto theft tactic that has been particularly stealthy (yet prominent) in recent years. Corey said:

We started chatting and talking, idyll conversation to just get to know one another and then he goes, ‘Let’s go to WhatsApp and chat there.’

He was told to begin investing in a potential crypto platform through which the alleged romantic partner claimed that Corey could make tons of money if he played his cards right. He was even willing to loan him a little cash to get started. Corey said:

We started doing little trades like that. I put in $1,000 and then put in another thousand. He’s like, ‘If we get to the next level, you know if you put in $50,000, then you can make some higher trades, more money.’

The Curtain Is Pulled Back

While things may have begun innocently enough, they took a particularly ugly turn when he tried to get his money out and was told he needed to pay a tax-related fee.

From there, it was clear to Corey what had happened.

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