My Scam Story by Jennifer Woodruff - A True Story about a Fantasy World

“My story started like many others I’ve talked to who were scammed. I was newly single. Out of a 6-year relationship for about 2 months and feeling sad missing the company of another person.

And just around Christmas 2021, I was contacted by a person who I now know was a scammer in South Africa, part of a complex scamming organization called The Yahoo Boys.

But his photos lured me in. And his profile too. So, we started talking. And his story was so interesting! And it’s ALL FAKE to create this amazing guy who I would later give over money to.

I sent him money to help me “invest in Bitcoin”. At least that’s what I thought we were doing. As soon as I sent it, he kept showing me (also faked) images of the investment growing and making me feel happy and excited to be earning so much money. Enough money to really make a huge difference in my life.

Then, there came a time when I wanted to withdraw some of my earnings, and I was told that I had to pay some sort of tax. What?!? I had to pay more money to get the money back out???

I consider myself a smart person. I did research ahead of time on Bitcoin and on the website and on all other aspects of what my scammer was talking to me about.

It seemed legitimate with research to back it up, a website, testimonials and even a logo from the Better Business Bureau.

But when I tried to withdraw my money and wasn’t able to, I knew it was a scam. I eventually came to my senses and stopped talking to this person. I went from loving him to hating him.

And then I reported him to the FBI, IC3 and my local police. I was able to have help tracking the IP address of the phone he used. It was traced to South Africa! And I was also helped by an Australian based investigator who I couldn’t afford to pay but who traced my Bitcoin activity after it left my account.

And what really happened to my money was appalling. He had sent it to himself and then to 20+ other wallets. Basically, it showed me how many other people were actually involved in this crime. It was a gang, a sophisticated group of criminals working night and day to scam American’s out of our hard-earned money. 

And they are right under our noses - in South Africa, in Nigeria, in Greece, in Cambodia, in China, in Russia. We can find these people, arrest them, take their equipment and freeze their bank assets.

We can also stop engaging with people we don’t know on the internet - especially asking for money. All they care about is getting money. And they’ve been very successful at that for too long.

They’ve been getting away with far too much for far too long. And I personally am ready to see it all come crashing down for them. I know I won’t get my money back. But I would like to know more and more innocent people are protected from this horrible crime.”