'It starts off innocent': Manitoba man loses $185,000 to crypto-romance scam
CTV
A Manitoba man is warning others after he fell victim to an elaborate online scam over the summer.
A Manitoba man is warning others after he fell victim to an elaborate online scam over the summer.
In a matter of months, 62-year-old Ernie Kiss lost $185,000 in what experts describe as a cryptocurrency romance scam.
The incident has forced Kiss, a retired pilot and airplane mechanic, back into the workforce.
“You know, it starts off innocent,” Kiss told CTV News Wednesday. “It starts off with a little bit of money here and there, and it’s all good – and it’s not.”
In April, Kiss said he received an Instagram message from a woman named Angela, who said she was a plastic surgeon in California with a keen interest in learning how to fly.
“We seemed to hit off back and forth. We made some phone calls and videos – the whole bit,” Kiss explained. “I was going to go down to see her.”
When Angela started telling him about investing in artificial intelligence, Kiss said he saw it as an opportunity to earn some passive income.