A HEARTBROKEN trader has shared how he lost his entire life savings in crypto after he was targeted by a fraudster he met on Hinge.
Steve Belcher, 52, a software engineer, from Denver in the US, invested $1.6m (£1.2m) from his retirement account into what he thought was a promising platform after being convinced by the scammer.
The fraud tactic is known as sha zhu pan – or “pig butchering” – in a sick reference to how the target is said to be “fattened up” ready for slaughter.
It sees professional con artists – often linked to Chinese mafia – spend months building victims’ trust before pushing them to invest in bogus get-rich-quick schemes.
After moving to Denver, 52-year-old dad Steve decided to try dating app Hinge, where he came across a profile with the name Shizuka Suzuki – who also appeared to be in the same area.
Steve told The Sun Online: “I was new to the area and was looking forward to meeting new people and dating apps are one way people do that today.
“This profile showed it was a person interested in cryptocurrency, a business person, there were a lot of things we had in common.
“The reason I originally chose to contact this person was that it seemed we had a lot of the same interests, like cryptocurrency and investments.
“We connected and started a relationship online, we were talking about a range of different topics, normal things, like what do you do, where you’re from.”
Steve says that…
