Help Author Josh Kern Recover from Devastating Crypto Scam

Earlier this year, I began communicating with a woman through a dating app. From there, our conversations moved to WhatsApp, and soon after, we had our first video call. She regularly shared photos of herself, nothing illicit, just what outfit she was wearing that day. We had a second video call as well, but she had a thick accent and preferred to text. While there was a language barrier—she was from Azerbaijan, though she did speak English, just with an accent,—nothing at the time triggered any significant red flags.

Over the following weeks as we continued to get to know one another, she gradually introduced me to a cryptocurrency site she used. She claimed to have a unique method of predicting Bitcoin fluctuations and used a site that allowed users to bet against market movements. In essence, you were betting on Crypto futures, which is something that you do on Coinbase and other sites. The difference was the timeline involved, at least according to my understanding, as instead of days or weeks, you could bet in minutes.

Initially skeptical, I was reluctant but agreed to invest $5,000. You have to remember that I believed I was in a relationship, and she had been showing me ‘Proof’ of the money she was making from her method. It worked, and the account appeared to grow modestly in value. Each time, I was shown convincing indicators of profitability, but I remained unwilling to put more of my money in.

I’m cautious by nature, and I was willing to take the slow path. I saw no reason to go faster, as we would get there eventually, and I really didn’t want to risk the money I had worked so hard for all my life.

Then my hand was forced.

The site promoted a ‘special reward program’ something that she told me about. The amount you could claim was supposed to be based on the balance of your account at the end of the program, something that I double-checked with the customer support rep. Instead, it was dependent on how much you deposited into the account after the program started, and in order to qualify for the rewards and retain the earnings I had supposedly accrued, I needed to deposit a certain amount.

Against my better judgement, I had to sell all of my stocks and borrow money from her to make it, but I did. Once it was in the account, I decided I might as well just leave it there for the moment, as it felt like I had already crossed a point of no return. My reasoning was that I would use the increased size of principal for greater bets, and then I would pull it out. Which I fully intended to do.

Unfortunately, this was a critical mistake.

After a couple of more increases to the account’s principal, the company froze the account. Their explanation was that my account was too new and required a significantly higher deposit for ‘margin’ purposes before an audit could be completed, which would thereby increase the security on the account. I was given two weeks to comply, or the entirety of the funds would be confiscated. As someone who has struggled with anxiety since I was young, I was overwhelmed and panicked.

Obviously, I no longer had any money, but having worked with stocks for several years, I had begun to suspect that something was wrong. Companies like this aren’t allowed to simply just confiscate a client’s money for no reason, nor are they allowed to freeze an account for no reason. However, I still had the relationship blinders on, and turned to the girl who had put everything together.

The woman initially promised to help, even reassuring me that the same thing had happened to her years before. She had panicked as well, but after paying, everything had gone back to normal, and then she quickly disappeared.

The company in question refused to cooperate beyond demanding additional deposits before releasing or auditing the funds.

I was left with nothing. Desperate, I tried to solve the issue myself and found a recovery company. (Which ended up being another scam.) From there, I involved my retired parents in an attempt to recover what I could, something I now deeply regret as it has strained their limited resources.

In an effort to recover the funds, I contacted what I believed to be a legitimate crypto recovery service, which has since revealed itself to be yet another scam. They claimed to perform a chargeback and transferred the recovered tokens to a ‘temporary’ wallet. This occurred on June 13th. From that point onward, I have been in a prolonged battle to access these assets.

The Custodial Wallet Provider (Also a scam site, and likely part of the same scam as the recovery company) has proven similarly uncooperative. Their customer service has been delayed, dismissive, and ultimately ineffective. I was told that the tokens would be transferred to a new wallet during a ‘syncing event,’ but this process required a wallet to already contain a significant balance to complete the transaction. This is where I needed to borrow the money from my parents as I had none to cover these requirements.

Something went wrong during the transfer, and the entire sum—including the borrowed funds—was somehow taken from the private wallet, and then returned to their internal wallet system.

I am now unable to transfer any of the money, as the site does not register the Ethereum I later transferred to cover gas fees. I cannot retrieve that Ethereum either, leaving me completely locked out of the funds once again.

At this point, I believe both companies are part of an elaborate secondary scam targeting people already defrauded and in a vulnerable mental state.

As an author, this sum represents not just my present stability, but well over twelve years of personal sacrifice and work.

To date, I have reported this incident to multiple federal and state authorities, including:

• IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center)

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

• ChainAbuse

• My State Attorney General

• Local police department

While I understand that recovery is difficult and often unlikely in cases like these, especially when this much time has passed, I am reaching out for support, guidance, and, if possible, any assistance—whether legal, financial, or advocacy-related.

I know I made mistakes and missed red flags, reasoning them away at the time because I believed I was in a relationship or for other reasons. These are mistakes I will regret for a very long time. But the people who perpetrated this scheme were patient, methodical, and alarmingly convincing. They preyed not just on my financial hopes, but on my emotional vulnerability as someone looking for companionship and connection.

This sort of scam is happening more and more often, and people aren’t prepared for it, because we aren’t trained to look for it. Worse, because of the stigma involved with being scammed, too many people will never admit to being scammed and coming forward to ask for help when time is of the essence.

My main goal with this GoFundMe is to raise the amount needed to pay my family back. My parents are retired and in their late 70's, and were only doing what any decent parent would. They were attempting to help their kid out of a jam, not knowing that they weren't going to get their money back. It's the same for my brother.

I would of course love to raise more than that. However, the $50K I borrowed from them is the absolute bare minimum I need to raise with this.