Linda M., 59, Colorado
I never imagined I'd be telling this story, especially not like this. I'm Linda, 59, and a widow. With all my kids moved out, my world felt incredibly quiet, sometimes even empty. So I started looking for a friend or something more on a dating app for people my age. That’s where I met Daniel.
He said he was a civil engineer working on a project in Europe. He was kind, thoughtful, and never pushy. We talked every day for months, even video-called. It wasn't just that I liked him; there was a familiarity, a sense of safety I hadn't felt in years.
A few weeks in, he told me something was wrong with his crypto wallet. He said it had been temporarily frozen because of “international compliance issues” tied to the project he was working on. He just needed help moving some funds quickly to complete an urgent payment. He was panicked. Embarrassed. I can still hear him saying, ‘I hate asking you for this, but you’re the only one I trust. ’
So I helped.
At first, it was a few thousand. Then more. I had never used crypto before, but he explained everything. I set up wallets. I learned how to buy and transfer. Each time, he promised he’d pay me back.
But after months of sending money, $640,000 in total, he vanished. His number stopped working. His profile disappeared. No messages. No replies.
I wanted to believe there was some mix-up, but a reverse image search showed his picture all over scam warning sites. I was crushed. Losing the money was devastating, but the betrayal, the feeling of being utterly used, that's what truly crushed me. I felt like such a fool, constantly asking myself, "How could I have been so naive?" or "How can I recover from a crypto scam?"
I reported it to my bank, but they said the crypto couldn’t be reversed. I went to the police, but they didn’t have the tools to trace digital wallets. Every avenue felt like a dead end. I constantly wondered, "How can I get my money back from a crypto scam?" and "Is it even possible to recover from a romance scam like this?" I felt utterly hopeless, my retirement savings gone.
That’s when a friend of mine mentioned reading about a professional fraud recovery firm, Financial Options Recovery. Honestly, I didn't expect much, but when I first contacted Financial Options Recovery, I was met with understanding, not judgment. They simply asked for every detail I had: chat screenshots, transaction records, and wallet info. They explained that even if blockchain transactions are hard to reverse, stolen crypto can really be traced or recovered by experts. Their legal and crypto teams immediately started tracking my funds across various wallets and countries.
After a few weeks, I received an email: they’d recovered a substantial portion of what I’d lost. It was an overwhelming relief, answering my desperate question: Can money lost to a crypto scam be recovered? For me, part of it was. They're still working to trace more, and I no longer feel alone.
If you’re asking, "How do I recover crypto from a romance scam?" or "What can I do if I’ve been scammed out of crypto?" know it might not be too late. While recovery isn't guaranteed, you deserve the chance to try. Financial Options Recovery helped me reclaim my money and my sense of self. If you're wondering, "What are my options after a crypto romance scam?" don't give up hope. There’s a path forward; let them guide and help recover lost funds from scammers.