A married couple from Twin Cities, Minnesota has fallen victim to the largest cryptocurrency scam in the state’s history.
A mystery woman involved with an investment swindle tricked the husband to put money into a fraud crypto scheme without the wife’s knowledge.
Minnesota Man Loses $9 Million In Family Savings To Crypto Fraud Scheme
According to a report by the StarTribune, a search warrant affidavit was filed by the Eden Prairie Police in Hennepin County District Court to conduct further investigations into the man’s bank transactions, which noted that he voluntarily sent $9.2 million to the woman in question between December 21, 2022, and June 8, 2023. Authorities say he kept his wife in the dark the whole time the scam was taking place.
The investment swindle began late last year when the con woman contacted the victim via LinkedIn. She introduced the man to a crypto venture called “Coinrule-web3” and promised him high returns from investments. As they kept in frequent contact, the woman was later able to lure the victims into a bogus romantic relationship.
Initially, the man received quick profits from his investments, which convinced him to put more money into the scam. He sent the funds to the woman who later pleaded with him to abandon his wife and run off together.
The promise of quick riches and a romantic partner proved too much of a temptation for the husband that he decided to go all in on the scam, and intended to separate from his wife.
An investigator with the Eden Prairie Police said the husband transferred funds to the bad actor 21 times over a 6-month period, ranging from regular installments of $100,000 to a single transaction of $2.1 million on the last day of the operation.
The scam came to the attention of authorities on June 15 after the wife filed a complaint against her husband, saying that he had been liquidating their investment account for the past six months. This was when it was revealed that the con woman had asked for a $2.8 million “fee” to release the remaining profits from the man’s so-called “investment”.
This was when the man asked his wife to withdraw all the remaining money from their account to pay off the fees.
The Biggest Crypto Fraud Case In The State’s History
John Stiles, a spokesman for Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, told reporters that no one in the state had heard of a crypto fraud case that was this big. “Their eyes popped when I told them the amount”, said the spokesperson.
Eden Prairie Police said that with a simple internet search, they found out “Coinrule-web3” was tied to many other crypto and relationship scams. Investigators also learned that the woman directed the husband to make large deposits from his U.S. bank account to other bank accounts, which were tied to the scammers, in the name of investing in crypto assets. One of the accounts associated with the scam is in a bank that has been used by bad actors to launder stolen money.
The fund was then transferred to a crypto wallet held by the scammer. The culprit never really invested the man’s money but instead used it to purchase other cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, the man was made to believe that he was investing in Coinrule-web3, and the scammers even sent him a quick profit to get his trust. In the end, he was asked to pay a fee of $2.8 million to get his funds back.
Eden Prairie Police said this is one of the four cryptocurrency-related fraud cases they have investigated so far this year. They stated that the remaining cases don’t come anywhere close to the losses suffered by the victim in this investment fraud case.
The scam came to the attention of authorities on June 15 after the wife filed a complaint against her husband, saying that he had been liquidating their investment account for the past six months. This was when it was revealed that the con woman had asked for a $2.8 million “fee” to release the remaining profits from the man’s so-called “investment”.
According to the FBI, In most cases, the victims don’t know how cryptocurrencies work and find it hard to use crypto platforms on their own. This gives the scammer the chance to become a dominant figure and guide victims through the process of transferring fiat or crypto, tricking them into believing that a sudden market surge can make them rich.
Once the pig is fat enough, the criminals execute the scam. In the Minnesota case, the woman was in contact with the man for 6 months and was able to walk away with a sizeable chunk of money.
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FBI Asks Internet Users To Stay Vigilant
The FBI has asked internet users to stay vigilant and look out for domain names that may resemble legitimate crypto platforms like exchanges and digital wallets. Users have also been advised to be careful of spelling mistakes in the name or changes in the color and shape of the logos of popular finance-related applications.
The agency has asked users to first conduct proper research on the crypto project they are interested to invest in so that they can find out whether it is real or fake.
The U.S. Justice Department reported that last year alone, $3.31 billion was lost to investment fraud, making it the single largest scam type reported by the public to the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center.
Scams involving cryptocurrencies formed a big chunk of the investment fraud pie, costing victims $2.57 billion in losses, an 18% rise compared to 2021.
Minnesota Police has not revealed the identities of the victims or made any further comments about the case as the investigation is still in process.
