A single mother of three lost her £6,000 savings after a crypto ‘Tinder Swindler’ she met on the dating app tricked her into handing them over.
Natalie Foster, 42, met a man called ‘James’ on Tinder three weeks ago.
The two hit it off immediately before James started talking incessantly about cryptocurrency.
He persuaded Natalie to get a crypto wallet, a virtual wallet that allows you to buy and hold cryptocurrencies.
She was convinced to download money and “trade” cryptocurrencies – with the scammer initially making it appear she had made profits of up to $86,000.
Natalie Foster, 42, met a man called ‘James’ on Tinder three weeks ago
But that sum quickly dropped to zero before she could withdraw it in real cash and it totaled £6,000.
Natalie, from Windsford, Cheshire, said: “I feel stupid, I feel ridiculous. I can’t believe I’m one of those women I read about in magazines.”
Natalie, who is off work due to her multiple sclerosis (MS), said James was very direct with her from the moment they met on Tinder.
She added: “He seemed like a really nice guy, he had nice dogs and he was very direct – I wasn’t really interested in that.”
After a week of conversation, James brought up the fact that he had an uncle who made his fortune in the crypto world.
Natalie said: “I’m not a gamer but he was very convincing.
“He told me to put in £300 and then transfer it to a trading platform. I did this and subsequently made a profit of £80.
Natalie, from Windsford, Cheshire, said she felt “stupid” and couldn’t believe she was now one of the women she had read about in magazines who had been scammed in the same way .
Natalie then invested a further £100 on the trading platform and earned a further £93, although she will never receive the money.
A few days later, James said the next night would be “a really big night.”
She said: “He convinced me to invest even more money, so I put £2,000 aside.
“He then said he had been in contact with his uncle who told him that a one-of-a-kind deal was about to be made and that I could make an 800 percent profit.”
Natalie then withdrew all the money she had left from her savings and transferred it to the crypto trading account, totaling £3,500.
She was then added to a WhatsApp group with a man claiming to be her Tinder partner’s uncle and another person.
According to Natalie, they then made a trade that resulted in a profit of $86,000 in her account on the trading platform.
When she went to look at it herself, it briefly indicated that she had exceeded the amount she could keep in it before her total funds suddenly went to 0.
Natalie said: “I then contacted customer service who told me I owed them 20 per cent in tax on a New York bank account totaling £20,000.”
But James then transferred $5,000 to his account on his trading platform.
Natalie said: “At this stage I thought it was still legit, but then I spoke to my ex-partner and he gave me a reality check.
“I realized I had literally fallen for a classic crypto scam.”
None of the profits from the deals ever came back to her except for the initial £80, with Natalie losing £6,000 in total.
She went back to James to confront him about the scam he told her to “go die quickly.”
He then unmatched her and disappeared without a trace.
When Natalie returned to James to confront him about the scam, he told her to “go die quickly.”
Natalie says looking back there were “all these red flags”, including James saying he was German, but didn’t have a German accent, and even confusing his own dogs’ names of companionship while her photos, Natalie said, were “clearly just uploaded.” from somewhere online.”
She has since reported what happened to her to Action Fraud and has instructed a lawyer who hopes Natalie can get her money back.
Natalie said: “It was all my savings that I inherited from my grandfather – it left me totally helpless.”
This led mother-of-three Natalie to have suicidal thoughts.
She added: “I just feel stupid and ridiculous.
“It’s so horrible, I don’t know how they can do this to other people.”
MailOnline has contacted Tinder and Action Fraud for comment.
Earlier this month, the unlucky victim and star of Netflix documentary Tinder Swindler blasted British police after figures revealed less than 1% of romance fraudsters were charged.
Figures uncovered by the Daily Mail show just 53 charges were laid against 23,685 reports of romance fraud over a three-year period.
Cecilie Fjellhøy, 34, who has lived in London for seven years, said the low prosecution rates showed the UK remained a “free-for-all” country for fraudsters.
Cecilie Fjellhøy and Tinder Swindler fraudster Simon Leviev posed as a wealthy heir to dupe his lovers out of small fortunes
Ms Fjellhøy told how, despite being cheated out of £200,000, she was “treated as a suspect and not a victim” by the Met Police while they investigated her case.
Ms Fjellhøy was scammed by the now famous fraudster Simon Leviev, who posed as a wealthy heir to dupe his lovers out of small fortunes.
The Norwegian told how, despite being cheated out of £200,000, she was ‘treated as a suspect and not a victim’ by the Met Police while they investigated her case.
Detectives eventually released her after two years – but also dropped all charges against Mr Leviev.
Ms Fjellhøy revealed last night that she has since made a formal complaint to the Met Police over the handling of her case, which is still ongoing.
She said: “What does it say about the police when they can’t even arrest the world’s most famous romance scammer?
“What kind of message are they sending to the rest of the fraud community? It’s a free-for-all. They could have sent a message but they didn’t, they left him free.
The latest statistics, uncovered in a Freedom of Information request, reveal that almost 8,000 romance frauds are reported to Action Fraud each year – and yet only a fraction are charged.
Experts said police often struggled to track down romance scammers because the majority came from abroad, particularly from West Africa, which was outside their jurisdiction.
More than £92million was lost to romance fraudsters across Britain last year, leaving thousands of hopeful and confident singles psychologically distraught.
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