My mother borrowed and lost $800,000 after a fake Bitcoin app showed winnings

I discovered that my 67-year-old mother had been emotionally manipulated over several months by someone she met online. The person persuaded her to download a fake cryptocurrency app that made it appear she had become wealthy through Bitcoin.

When she tried to obtain the supposed winnings, she was instructed to pay taxes first. She took out multiple loans and continued sending money because the app still displayed a much larger amount waiting for her.

By the time our family found out, she had borrowed and lost approximately $800,000. We had been planning her retirement, but instead we were dealing with lenders, protecting her remaining property and trying to prevent further contact with the person controlling the scheme.

The scale of the borrowing shocked us almost as much as the fraud. The fake app did not need to contain real Bitcoin; it only needed convincing figures large enough to make each new loan seem temporary.