Dylan J., a 23-year-old college student from Florida, had been following crypto influencers on Instagram for over a year.
One day, his favorite influencer posted a story about a “24-hour ETH Giveaway” where fans could double their Ethereum by sending it to a wallet address listed in the bio. The post had a blue checkmark and looked identical to the influencer’s usual content. It even tagged other verified accounts. Without thinking twice, Dylan sent $5,000 in ETH. When nothing came back after 30 minutes, he sent more - hoping it was a timing delay.
It wasn’t.
Within an hour, he realized he’d been duped. The influencer’s account had been cloned-everything from profile picture to stories. He tried contacting Instagram, but all he got was an automated form. By the time he tracked down the real influencer, it was too late.
Feeling angry and embarrassed, Dylan found Financial Options Recovery through a Reddit thread on scam tracing. He filled out the form, unsure if anything could be done.
We took immediate action. Our team traced the transaction on the blockchain and found it had been split across multiple wallets using automated scripts. Within days, we flagged two wallets tied to past Instagram crypto scams. Working with an exchange that had received part of the funds, we recovered $12,500 after verifying the fraud.
“I thought I’d lost everything. What blew me away was how fast your team moved. You knew exactly what to look for,” Dylan told us.
Social media scams are slick, fast, and often overlooked by law enforcement. But recovery is possible - with the right tools and timing.