Crypto Scam Alert: A Wedding Anniversary Surprise That Turned Into a Nightmare

What was supposed to be a joyful wedding anniversary ended in heartbreak for a St. Francis couple. The woman, believing she had made tens of thousands of dollars through a cryptocurrency investment, surprised her husband with what she thought was good news. Instead, the truth was devastating.

“She had a big smile on her face saying, ‘Look what I did,’” said her husband, Scott Johansson. “All I thought was, ‘This is not real.’”

How It All Started: A Facebook Trap

It all began with a cryptocurrency opportunity the woman found on Facebook. Like many scams, it looked promising. Her first investment was $30,000, and within a few weeks, she appeared to have doubled her money.

“Better than the stock market,” Scott recalled, adding that the fake platform claimed they had earned nearly $100,000. Encouraged by these “gains,” she invested even more—up to $55,000.

When she tried to withdraw her funds, she was told she had to pay another $30,000 in “taxes and fines.” Hoping to get her money back, she paid the $30,000. But after losing $80,000 in total, she finally had to accept the painful truth—she had been scammed.

The Scam Tactic: Too Good to Be True

April DeValkenaere, a certified cryptocurrency investigator and owner of Fortress Forensic Investigations, explained how these scams work.

“They try to get you to invest a smaller amount first. Then they show you fake profits, usually double your money within two to four weeks,” she said. Victims can even “track” their fake investments on professional-looking platforms. But behind the scenes, the money is already gone.

Scammers use this trick to keep victims investing more and more. The longer the money stays in the fake platform, the more the scammers gain. By the time victims go to the police, the funds have often been gone for months.

Why It’s So Hard to Recover the Money

Cryptocurrency has no central bank, which makes tracking these scams very difficult. Once the money is transferred—and usually moved around many times- it becomes nearly impossible to trace.

Johansson and his wife reported the crime to the police. “The officer said there’s a 99% chance that your money is gone,” he shared. Investigators later found that the scammers were most likely based in Nigeria.

The couple is now left to deal with the emotional and financial fallout. “She has a really hard time sleeping at night,” Scott said. “She now has a lot of trust issues.”

How to Protect Yourself From Crypto Scams

One major red flag in this case was being asked to pay taxes before withdrawing money. In real crypto investments, taxes would come from your earnings, not out of your pocket upfront.

DeValkenaere strongly advises against trusting investment offers found on social media. Instead, she recommends checking any broker’s background on Finra.org. This site shows whether someone is licensed and gives you a snapshot of their professional history.

In Scott Johansson’s words, “If it sounds too good to be true, it’s fake.”

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