The family of an 82-year-old Virginia man who committed suicide after falling victim to a crypto pig slaughter scam says he is “heartbroken” that he apparently trusted the scammer more than his own children, CNN reports.
Dennis Jones took his own life last March after handing over “everything he had” to a scammer posing as a woman called “Jessie” on Facebook.
According to Jones’ social media accounts, the pair had been exchanging messages for months before he was convinced to invest a large amount of money in a fraudulent crypto project. Once he did, “Jessie” convinced him to hand over more and more money until “there was nothing left.”
During this time, according to his daughter Adrianne, the usually outgoing and optimistic Jones began to do so move away from his familyprompting them to arrange a meeting where they would discuss how best to help him get back on his feet.
However, before the meeting could take place, they were informed that he had taken his own life.
After his death, Jones’ family discovered “heartbreaking” messages he had exchanged with the scammer.
“I’ve had dark thoughts about my life and whether it’s over. It certainly feels like my financial life is over,” she wrote in one exchange. “The biggest pain here is that I betrayed the family’s trust. This is unbearable.”
“He was talking about having signs of a nervous breakdown. And so these were all shared with the profile,” Adrianne told CNN.
“Instead of sharing with us,” his son Matt added.
Read more: US seizes pig slaughter funds at Evolve Bank
Erin West, a prosecutor fighting hog slaughter scams, told CNN that scammers are pulling a “major psychological stunt” in the world. “Scammers abroad have figured out a way to get victims to trust them rather than their families,” she says.
According to CNN, FBI data shows that $5 billion was stolen in cryptocurrency-related fraud in 2023, with $3.96 billion stemming from hog slaughter scams. The United States is seeking to permanently seize USDT from a Binance account in connection with a $1 Million Pig Slaughter Scam.
West also noted that these scams involve “victims making victims” and that “the only winners are Chinese gangsters.” In fact, many of these scammers are victims of human trafficking in Southeast Asia. In March, around 1,800 slaves were freed from pig slaughter compounds in Myanmar and the Philippines.
