ChatGPT helps woman avoid losing US$ 1 million in cryptocurrency scam

Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: ChatGPT helps woman avoid losing $1 million in cryptocurrency scam Original Link: A widow from San Jose, California, who believed she had found a new romantic partner online, lost nearly $1 million in a cryptocurrency scam known as “Pig-Butchering” (‘Pig-Butchering’) and only realized it after asking ChatGPT if the investment offer made sense.

According to a report by a San Jose-based broadcaster, the scheme drained her retirement accounts and left her at risk of losing her home.

The woman, Margaret Loke, met a man who identified himself as “Ed” on Facebook last May. The relationship quickly moved to WhatsApp, where the man, claiming to be a wealthy businessman, sent affectionate messages daily and encouraged her to open up to him.

As the online relationship deepened, the daily conversations never stopped.

“He was very kind to me, greeted me every morning,” Loke said. “He sends me a ‘good morning’ message every day. He says he likes me.”

The conversations soon turned to cryptocurrency investments. Loke said she had no trading experience, but “Ed” guided her on how to transfer funds to an online account that “he” controlled.

According to Loke, Ed showed her a screenshot of an app that showed her making “a big profit in seconds,” a common tactic in this type of scam, which uses fabricated results to convince victims their money is earning returns.

Pig-butchering scams are elaborate frauds in which scammers build a relationship with the victim over weeks or months before directing them to fake investment platforms and draining their savings.

In August, Meta said it had removed more than 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts linked to pig-butchering scams.

As the scam progressed, Loke said she sent a series of increasingly larger transfers, starting with $15,000, which grew to more than $490,000 from her retirement account.

She eventually took out a second mortgage of $300,000 and also transferred that amount. In total, she sent nearly $1 million to accounts controlled by the scammers.

Scam exposed by an unlikely ally

When her supposed crypto account suddenly “froze,” “Ed” demanded another $1 million to release the funds. Panicked, Loke described the situation to ChatGPT.

“ChatGPT told me: 'No, this is a scam, you better go to the police,” she said.

The artificial intelligence responded that the situation matched known scam patterns, which led her to confront the man she believed she was dating and then contact the police.

Investigators later confirmed that she was sending money to a bank in Malaysia, from which it was withdrawn by scammers.

“Why am I so stupid? I let him fool me!” Loke said. “I was really very depressed.”

Loke’s case is the latest example of how ChatGPT is being used to expose scammers.

Last week, an IT professional in Delhi said he had “coded by intuition” a website that allowed him to determine the location and photo of a potential scammer.

Growing trend of cybercrime

According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), $9.3 billion was lost in online scams targeting elderly Americans in 2024.

Many of these scams originated in Europe or in complexes in Southeast Asia, where large groups of scammers target international victims. In September, the US Treasury Department sanctioned 19 entities in Myanmar and Cambodia for perpetrating scams on American citizens.

“The cyber scam industry in Southeast Asia not only threatens the well-being and financial security of Americans, but also subjects thousands of people to modern slavery,” said John K. Hurley, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, in a statement.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warn that unsolicited “advice” about cryptocurrencies, which starts within an online relationship, is a hallmark of romance scams — long-term frauds in which the scammer builds emotional trust before luring the victim into fake investments.

Loke’s case followed this pattern, with increasing pressure to deposit more and more money.

Federal regulators warn that recovering funds from such overseas attacks is extremely rare once the money leaves US banking channels, leaving victims like Loke with few options for restitution.