I am a mother of three who lost my entire $401(K) to a scammer I met on Tinder

A recently divorced mother of three has revealed how she lost her entire 401(K) to a scam artist she met on Tinder after he convinced her to invest in fake cryptocurrency schemes.

Rebecca Holloway, 42, came out of a messy second marriage when she was conned out of more than $100,000 by fraudsters posing as a French entrepreneur named “Fred.”

She is the third victim to come forward in recent months about a vicious scam known as “pig butchering” – in which victims are effectively ‘fattened up’ with a fake romantic relationship before being ‘butchered’ by fraudulent investment advice.

Tech executive Shreya Datta, 37, and single mom Kate, 41 both revealed they lost $450,000 and $80,000, respectively, in an eerily similar thrill. In total, the three women handed over half a million dollars to scammers.

Officials say the scam is exploding in the US, with Secret Service agents admitting they saw “a bunch” of cases. The agency is responsible for “protecting” America’s financial and payment systems and regularly investigates high-value fraud cases.

Speaking exclusively to Dailymail.com, Holloway said, “Single women approaching middle age are so vulnerable.

“We have money, but maybe we haven’t met the right man yet. And suddenly this handsome man starts talking to you and you are excited.

“In hindsight, the signs are so clear. But at that moment you want to believe it’s real.’

Holloway – a freelance marketing executive who once worked on Wall Street – was immediately attracted to “Fred” after receiving consistent and thoughtful messages that made him so different from the men she usually matched with.

He claimed to be a French entrepreneur living in Philadelphia, who studied economics at university. He also said he had a daughter – something the couple bonded over, as Holloway has three teenage children.

They matched on Tinder in March this year and quickly moved on to texting where ‘Fred’ then started discussing his cryptocurrency investments, which immediately piqued Holloway’s interest.

Much of what he said was true. He told her that in the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, there was a lot of money to be made on alternative platforms.

At the time, media outlets published reports with headlines like “Bitcoin Soars During Silicon Valley Bank Collapse.”

Intrigued, she thought there was “no harm” in listening to Fred and under his instruction she transferred $1,000 to what she believed to be a genuine cryptocurrency platform.

The platforms he also offered her were modeled after legitimate sites, but with slightly different URLs.

She saw an immediate return on her investment, earning $168 on four trades.

The “pig slaughter” scam is long-winded and sees the scammer enter into a months-long relationship to build trust.

Holloway shared exchanges between her and ‘Fred’ exclusively with Dailymail.com

Holloway is the third victim to come forward in recent months over a vicious scam known as ‘pig slaughter’, in which victims are effectively ‘fattened’ with a fake romantic relationship before being slaughtered by fraudulent investment advice

Scammers often let victims easily withdraw money from the investment app at first – but once they invest heavily, they lose this option.

Sure enough, Holloway was immediately able to collect her $168 earnings and transfer them back to her bank account.

She then exchanged another $6,000 of her savings and watched her money continue to rise.

Meanwhile, her supposed relationship with ‘Fred’ blossomed. Although he avoided meeting face to face, he would video call her while he was eating – though she said he was off camera most of the time and she struggled to get a good look at his face.

Before long, she had paid out her entire 401K – worth $100,000. After factoring in the government taxes she faced during the transaction, she was left with $70,000 to reinvest.

Alarm bells only rang when she went to dinner with a friend and shared the details of her relationship with ‘Fred’.

“My friend told me about pig slaughter scams and then I realized what had happened,” she said.

“It felt like a movie where everything around me suddenly faded and distorted. I didn’t even try to withdraw my money, I knew it was gone at that moment.’

On reflection, she had suspected several times that something was going on with ‘Fred’. At times it felt like she was talking to different people, his moods fluctuating frequently. She also noticed that he didn’t seem to have a French accent in videos he sent.

Single mom Kate from Vancouver, Washington, had noticed as well. Like Holloway, she thought she had met a French entrepreneur – although he said he lived in Seattle.

He claimed to be called “Andy” and to work as a wine merchant. Over time, the duo got into a relationship when he convinced her to invest $80,000.

Last month she told Dailymail.com, “I was the perfect dork in a way because I knew nothing about cryptocurrencies.”

And technical director Shreya Datta also thought she was talking to a French wine merchant – who ended up swindling her out of $450,000.

Tech executive Shreya Datta, 37, left, and single mom Kate, 41, right, both revealed they lost $450,000 and $80,000 respectively in an eerily similar thrill

Kate, 41, who used a pseudonym for the part, lost $80,000 to a ‘pig slaughter’ scam

Datta – who earns a six-figure salary at a global technology company – told the Inquirer that she felt she had “a hole in my soul because she didn’t have a man in my life” – hence why she was duped.

“I was in a trance,” she said adding “it’s like my psychology has been hacked.”

Holloway has now reported her case to the financial industry regulatory authority, but she has no idea if she will ever see her money again.

Data from the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center (IC3) shows that cryptocurrency scams are the fastest growing form of investment fraud.

In all cases, victims reported losses of $2.57 billion last year, an increase of more than 183 percent from 2021.

In May, Secret Service agents at the San Francisco field office hosted an “Ask Me Anything on Reddit,” where they said pig slaughter was now one of the most common scams they came across.

“Specifically in San Francisco, we tend to focus on victim cases, i.e. those where an individual or company has been affected,” the body said in a statement. Blockwork.

“Today we see a lot of pig slaughterhouse investment scams and have committed resources to help those victims.”

And in September, Andrew Frey, a US Secret Service forensic financial analyst at the San Francisco Field Office, told Forbes that pig slaughter is now a “super scam.”

“They’ve taken it up a notch in terms of sophistication in making these apps with the perception that people are making money,” he said.

On its website, the Secret Service says it has a “long and storied history” of keeping America’s payment systems secure.

It regularly investigates extensive financial and cybercrime activities. In 2021, authorities said romance fraud was one of the “main types” of fraud crimes it investigates.

Many pig slaughterhouses are reportedly run by criminal syndicates in Cambodia, which employ thousands of people.

A report by Vice News and the South China Morning Post last year found that workers themselves are enslaved and mistreated because they have been lured there with the promise of legitimate employment.

They are presented with scripts that are tailored to individual victims.

Dailymail.com also reached out to Hinge and Tinder for comment.