The Philadelphia-based tech professional lost her life savings in a cryptocurrency romance scam. The wine trader flirted with her online for months with his flirtatious smile and emoji-sprinkled texts. Then he went for the kill, defrauding the Indian woman in the US.

The con drained Shreya Datta (37), a Philadelphia-based tech professional, of her savings and retirement funds while saddling her with debt. It involved the use of digitally altered deepfake videos and a script so sophisticated that she felt her brain was hacked. Shreya Datta became the victim of a pig-butchering scam.

Pig butchering is a scam in which victims are likened to hogs fattened up by fraudsters with feigned love and affection before the proverbial slaughter. Later, fraudsters trick them into a fake crypto investment.

Shreya Datta's experience began on Hinge, a dating app. She met Ancel in last January. He introduced himself as a French wine trader based in Philadelphia.

As per AFP, Shreya said she was charisma bombed as the conversation quickly moved to WhatsApp. To prove his focused attention on Shreya, the gym buff with a dreamy smile deleted his Hinge profile. They exchanged selfies and flirty emojis and made brief video calls.

Ancel kept pushing plans to physically meet, but Shreya was not immediately suspicious. She received a bouquet from Ancel sent from a Philadelphia flower shop on last year’s Valentine’s Day.

Then, Ancel sent her a link to download a crypto trading app. The app came with two-factor authentication to make it appear legitimate.

Shreya converted some of her savings into cryptocurrency on the US-based exchange Coinbase. To boost her confidence to invest more, the fake app initially allowed her to withdraw her early gains.

Ancel encourages her to invest more savings and take out loans. Despite her reluctance, she liquidated her retirement fund.

Nearly $450,000 in investment had more than doubled on paper, but alarm bells went off when Shreya tried to withdraw the amount and the app demanded a personal tax.

She turned to her London-based brother. He did a reverse image search of the pictures Ancel had sent her. He found they were from a German fitness influencer.

When she realized it was all a scam and all the money was gone, she had proper PTSD symptoms. She couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, and couldn't function.

Shreya is in therapy and has moved to a smaller apartment to manage her debt. She had little hope of recovery as she reported the crime to the FBI and Secret Service.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Komal Bhoi/MSM)