‘It pretty much ruined my life’: Cryptocurrency scam costs Canadian man $500,000

The Better Business Bureau says people are losing thousands of dollars by clicking fake videos on social media. Pat Foran reports for Consumer Alert.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is out with its top 10 scams of 2024 and in first place is investment and cryptocurrency scams.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, investment fraud represented about $310 million in losses in 2024.

Claude Lauzon of Edmonton, Alta. said in 2021 he clicked on an ad he saw on Facebook. After filling out some information, someone called him to say he could make money investing in cryptocurrency.

Lauzon started off with small investments but eventually handed over his life savings.

“They told me, ‘We need to make sure you don’t get charged with money laundering, so you need to give us $200,000 right away.’ So, I cashed in my RRSPs to do that,” said Lauzon.

Lauzon said in total he was scammed out of $500,000.

“It pretty much ruined my life. The night I realized it was all a big scam was devastating for me,” he said.

According to the BBB, at least 45 per cent of investment scams involve cryptocurrency and the top platforms where victims were introduced to the fraud are Facebook (57 per cent), Instagram (22.4 per cent), WhatsApp (7.9 per cent), and TikTok (7.2 per cent)

Criminals are using fake Elon Musk videos that have been altered with artificial intelligence (AI) to make it look like he is promoting crypto investments. There are also fake videos of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that have also been manipulated with AI.

In one fake video, Trudeau’s voice doesn’t match his lips as he says things like, “We have developed an investment platform that we believe can help every Canadian safeguard their financial future.”

But it’s a fake manipulated video.

Cybercrime Victim Services is a website with resources to help those who have lost money to crypto fraud. It’s founder Jason Tschetter is also a victim of cryptocurrency fraud.

Tschetter said he is working with United States Homeland Security officials to try and track down stolen funds and is hopeful he may be able to get back a portion of Lauzon’s money back.

“Hope is coming, we are trying hard and don’t give up. We have a three-step process: You freeze, then you seize, then you return it. A lot of people think that crypto can’t be returned, but it can [be and] there are steps to do so,” he said.

Retrieving stolen crypto funds may be possible but there are no guarantees. Lauzon says he wishes he never clicked on the ad on Facebook.

“Unfortunately, I lost all my money so there is not much I can do. It has been devastating for myself and my family,” said Lauzon.

According to the BBB, the other riskiest scams included in their top 10 list are employment scams, home improvement scams, online purchase fraud, advance fee loan scams, phishing scams, travel/vacation/timeshare scams, credit card scams, counterfeit products and sweepstakes/lottery/prizes scams.