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Another heartbreaking case of a "pig-slaughter" scam has emerged. This time, a San Jose widow was swindled out of nearly $1 million after falling for an online romance, only to be deceived by an elaborate cryptocurrency investment scam. The scam not only cost her her entire retirement savings but also left her fearing she would lose her house.

71-year-old Margaret Loke met a man named "Ed" on Facebook through a friend's introduction, believing she had found her partner. Their chats quickly became passionate and intimate, a typical tactic used in long-term romance scams.

"He was really nice to me, greeting me every morning," Loke recalled. "He sent me 'Good morning' messages every day. He said he liked me and mentioned we shared Chinese ancestry."

A few months later, he started calling her "darling." She replied, "Love you." However, behind this tenderness lay an overseas criminal network.
After gaining Locke's trust, Ed guided her to use a cryptocurrency investment platform he claimed to manage. To prove its security, he instructed her to make a small transaction.

"I logged into the platform and traded $15,000, making about $24,000," she said.

Seeing the rapid profits, Locke believed the system was legitimate. She then suffered severe psychological and financial manipulation. She first wired $120,000 from her Individual Retirement Account (IRA), then $490,000, and finally $62,000, watching the account balance on the fake platform grow each time. Ed constantly pressured her to continue investing, saying they could reach a purported $5 million goal together.

When her savings were depleted, she took out a $300,000 second mortgage and wired that money as well.

When she tried to withdraw the funds, everything collapsed.

"He froze my account. The funds were locked," she said. Ed insisted she wire another $1 million to unfreeze her account. When she refused, his tone changed. He began threatening her and warned of potential legal consequences.

“I don’t want us to become enemies… My lawyer will contact you,” he said in a voicemail.

A distraught Locke turned to ChatGPT for help.

“ChatGPT told me, ‘No, it’s a scam. You’d better go to the police station.’ I panicked and called him. I said, ‘You’re lying to me!’” she said.
By then, the money was gone. Investigators later confirmed that Locke’s transfer went directly to a bank in Malaysia, where a member of an international criminal gang withdrew her money.

The loss devastated her life.

“I’m trying to save my house. It’s my only asset,” she said tearfully. “All my money was stolen.”

Lock also faces a huge tax bill for withdrawing all funds from his IRA account at once.

Authorities say these cryptocurrency scams disguised as romance, known as “pig-butchering,” are spreading rapidly across the United States. These scams typically target the elderly, widowed individuals, and anyone feeling lonely. Multiple victims in the San Francisco Bay Area have reported similar losses, many amounting to six or even seven figures.

Officials urge the public to remain vigilant and immediately report any suspicious online relationships or investment offers.

Cases like Lock's often involve fake platforms that lock victims' accounts after they deposit large sums of money. Experts say wallet freezing is a common tactic in “pig-butchering” scams, leaving victims bewildered. Guides to recovering from frozen cryptocurrency wallets can help people understand how to respond when their digital assets are suddenly locked.