ORLANDO, Fla. – A Central Florida man, who asked not to be identified, fell victim to a random text from a beautiful woman that led to a romance-investment scheme that cost him $50,000 wired to two international banks.
The victim told News 6 that a woman who called herself “Lilli” traded photographs with him and started a relationship that went from friendship to romance to an opportunity to make $5,000 dollars a day on a $50,000 investment in Ethereum, a decentralized blockchain platform that establishes a peer-to-peer network.
“After a while, she said she wanted to live with me and we’d be together forever,” the victim told News 6. “She told me it was safe, and I trusted her.”
The retired Air Force veteran said he was close to retirement and hoped to build his account with the Ethereum investment and then travel with his new love.
He said he missed the deadline to capitalize on the $5,000 dollar a day offer and never saw a single dollar in growth. The last day he heard from Lilli was Veterans Day 2023.
“I tried to figure out what she saw in an older person like me,” the man told News 6. “I guess it was the money.”
Bank records obtained by News 6 confirmed that the funds were wired to banks in Vietnam and Hong Kong. The photos of a young Korean woman used in the scheme appear to be of a Korean model.
News 6 was able to track more than 20 photographs of the woman, but there were various names and settings and no evidence that the model is linked to the scheme.
News 6 presented the records to the U.S. Secret Service Field Office in Orlando to determine if the funds could be traced.
Special Agent in Charge Caroline O’Brien-Buster said the lost funds are just a small part of what is likely an elaborate international investment scheme.
“He’s not going to get the money back. All of his money went overseas,” O’Brien-Buster said. “They’ll blast out hundreds, thousands of these accidental texts in hopes to get one or two people to respond back to them. It’s a business for these guys.”
The U.S. Secret Service urges anyone that receives investment opportunities to use the internet for some basic research.
“If somebody were to present you with a company that is offering high-yield returns, just do a simple Google search on them,” O’Brien-Buster told News 6. “(Don’t use) the link they are giving you, just take the name of the company. You would be so thankful if you did that rather than fall for one of these scams.”
The Federal Trade Commission reported that consumers lost $8.8 billion to scams in 2022, with $3.8 billion of that specifically lost to investment schemes.
In the first nine months of 2023, the FTC reported that $3.7 billion lost in investment-related scams, with cryptocurrency used as the top payment method.
Florida residents alone lost $29 million in investment scams in the first nine months of 2023.
If you have been a victim of an investment or romance scheme, email makeendsmeet@wkmg.com or simply text the words Make Ends Meet to 407-676-7428.