Single mum loses her life savings just weeks after matching with Tinder conman

28 May 2024 , 12:52

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Natalie Foster had her life savings stolen (Image: Natalie Foster / SWNS)

A single mum-of-three has lost her life savings after being swindled by an evil crypto scammer.

Natalie Foster, 42, from Windsford, Cheshire, matched with a man who called himself "James" on Tinder three weeks ago. The pair hit it off immediately before he started talking incessantly about crypto.

"James" persuaded Natalie to get a crypto wallet - a virtual wallet that allows the owner to buy and keep cryptocurrency. She was convinced to uploaded money and "trade" crypto, with scammers making it appear as thought she had made £67,000 in profits.

But soon the amount plummeted to zero before she was able to withdraw any cash, leading her to lose her £6,000 in cash. Natalie said: "I feel stupid, I feel ridiculous - I can't believe I'm one of these women I read about in magazines."

Natalie said she felt "stupid" after being scammed (Natalie Foster / SWNS)

Natalie was invited to trade crypto by scammer "James" (Natalie Foster / SWNS)

Natalie, who is signed off work with MS, said once she matched with "James," he started being very forward with her. Lancs Live reported she said: "He looked like a really good-looking guy, he had nice dogs, and was being very forward - I wasn't really into that." A week after they first started chatting, James mentioned he had an uncle who made a fortune with crypto. Natalie said: "I'm not a gambler but he was very convincing. He told me to put in £300 and then transfer it to a trading platform. I did it and then made £80 profit."

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Natalie then invested another £100 on the trading platform and made an additional £93 though she would never receive the money. A few days later, "James" said the following evening would be "a very big night." Natalie added: "He convinced me to put in even more money, so I put £2,000 down. He then said he had been in touch with his uncle who had told him there was a once-in-a-century deal about to go down and I could make 800 per cent profit."

She then withdrew all the money she had left from her savings and transferred it to the crypto account, totalling £3,500. She was then added to a WhatsApp group with a man who claimed to be her Tinder match's uncle. Natalie claimed they did a trade that resulted in an estimated £67,000 in profits. When she went to look for herself, it briefly said she exceeded the amount she could have in it before the amount dropped to zero. Natalie added: "I then contacted customer services who said I owed them 20 per cent tax to a New York Bank account totalling £20,000."

Natalie lost all his savings to the scammers (Photothek via Getty Images)

But then James transferred an estimated £3,900 into her account. “At this point I thought it was still legit but I then talked to my ex partner and he gave me a reality check," Natalie said. "I realised I had literally fallen for a textbook crypto scam."

None of the profits from the trades ever went back to Natalie apart from the initial £80 with the mum losing £6,000 in total. She then went back to "James" to confront him about the scam to which he told her to "go and die quickly." "James" then unmatched with Natalie and vanished without a trace. Natalie said she realises there were "all these red flags" including James saying he was German, but not having a German accent, and even getting the names of his own pet dogs mixed up while his pictures were "clearly just downloaded from somewhere else."

Natalie has since reported the scammers to Action Fraud and instructed a solicitor to get her money back. She said: "It was my whole life savings which I inherited off my grandad - it's left me totally distraught." It led the mum to have suicidal thoughts. Natalie continued: "I just feel stupid and ridiculous. It's so awful - I don't know how they can do this to other people."

According to the National crime Agency, between April 2022 and March 2023 there were an estimated 3.5 million cases of fraud experienced by people aged 16 and over. It reportedly accounted for more than 40 per cent of crime in England and Wales.

George Mathias