Scammed out of everything. Riches to rags.
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Scammed out of everything: From Riches to Rags.
https://justiceforthescammed.org
What would you do if you found out one day that all your savings, the ones you thought you were investing to secure your present and future with, were lost and never to be recovered again? And not ripped off from you but disappeared within a most elaborate scamming scheme that even a very educated or cautious person would easily fall prey to the smoke and mirrors? After all, there are just so many ways to make money out there and sadly, so have scammers been quick to capitalize on the emergent trends with a professionalism that hides their true intentions until it simply is too late!
Well, I’m a 45-year old professional programmer, game developer, and technical director. I am what people can define as a smart man. However, my personal experience goes to show that sometimes, you can be handed a bad deal in life for absolutely no fault of your own. In my case, it was just so elaborate and fast paced that I hardly realized what was happening.
There I was in January 2021, preparing to face a new chapter in my life as a newly single man and dad, armed with a cheque for my share of a recently sold house. With the extra capital, my mind immediately rang “invest”. Having heard wonderful things about Bitcoin, I located an online cryptocurrency agency just to see how it works since I now had headroom to take the risk. Right away the investment paid off, from $4k into $6k overnight! That fast, I was game to invest further.
So I kept investing, increasing the amount with the hope of netting even more quick profit. But soon things started to get weird. Whenever I tried to cash out, the online agency began asking for money to release the funds - my funds - from the bank. Then they began asking for more to transport the cash because of the “amount” of money they were travelling with. However, it was when they were supposedly “pulled over” by the police who were demanding a $5K bribe that I finally took pause to assess the situation: this is Canada, and while many things can happen, police don’t do that out here. This is where things were getting to the point that I finally realized: There was no money coming… I had been scammed!
The situation right now:
I had started out with $200,000+ in the bank and ended up with $3,000 within a space of 3 months. As of now, my rent is $2,400; I have credit card bills, child support, and alimony to pay; and there are the everyday expenses to deal with in order to remain afloat. This tragedy comes at a time when I am not working because I decided to take a few months off to put my life in order after the pain of separating and becoming a single dad. Upon finishing a freelance job, I thought since I had the money, I could be able to heal while my money grew: a lesson learned the hard way. My kids are still very young and live with their mommy, but I am still their parent and should be able to provide for them.
I am not 100% sure what I’m going to do, but since I shared my story (here is an article featured in the Toronto Sun: https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/i-lost-everything-words-of-warning-from-man-bilked-out-of-200k-by-bitcoin-scam), I have already had many people reach out to me with similar stories. The problem with being scammed is that most people react with cynicism and, for all intents and purposes, victim blame, rather than recognizing that those scammed were pulled into a professional con. This inspired my vision to work for social justice and create a community where people who have fallen victim to cryptocurrency and online scams can freely share their stories – Justice For The Scammed. Maybe over time, we will be able to create awareness of this vice that is slowly destroying lives and in some instances breaking up families.
This is at https://justiceforthescammed.org
This is where you come in: Please help me get my life back.
The funds raised will be for basic survival and being able to keep my kids in my life while I process being a victim of an elaborate and professional scam. I really hope to work my way back to becoming financially stable and using my story to empower others to financial literacy.
Many thanks for your support.
Organizer
Glen Rhodes
Organizer
Mississauga, ON
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