Police issue warning after Burnaby senior loses $7.5 million in cryptocurrency scam

A senior from Burnaby was scammed out of more than $7.5 million dollars in a cryptocurrency ruse, prompting the latest warning from police about cryptocurrency-based fraud schemes.

Police say the elaborate con lasted several months and included the victim being scammed out of money both in the original fraud and then by someone claiming they could help get her money back.

An RCMP statement says the victim told police she received a Mandarin language text message in the Spring of 2022 from someone looking for information related to her personal business history.

The pair spoke frequently by phone, text, email, and over a chat app until the scammer began convincing the victim to invest millions of dollars through an online cryptocurrency trading app.

Police say the app she was using was a fake made to look legitimate and when she realized she couldn’t withdraw money, the fraudster disappeared.