A woman from Illinois lost almost $1 million over the course of several months to a scammer using the “pig butchering” technique. The scam, named for how fraudsters metaphorically fatten up their victims before financially slaughtering them, involves slowly gaining the victim’s trust before making off with their savings.
The FBI estimates that Americans lost nearly $4 billion to such scams in 2023 alone.
Erika DeMask, a resident of Lombard, had nearly $1 million saved in investment accounts before falling prey to the scam. Today, she finds herself in financial ruin.
“I had to tell my kids because they had no idea I had that kind of money,” she said.
The toll of the scam has forced DeMask to sell her home and most of her belongings.
“This is my garage sale. The beginning of a mess,” DeMask said. “And it’s hard because a lot of the stuff; the glasses here belonged to my husband.”
Her husband passed away decades ago, and DeMask had recently connected with a man online.
“He said that he loved me,” she said. “Once he sent me a huge bouquet of flowers and the FBI said they were shocked that he did that.”
However, the FBI clarified that such romantic gestures are common during the “fattening up” stage of the scam.
“Fraudsters are going to fatten up the victims by enticing them to put more money into an investment,” said James Barnacle, deputy assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “And then they’re going to slaughter them by walking away and stealing their money.”
DeMask said that her scammer was both charming and highly convincing.
“He’s working on an oil rig and something broke down. Can I send him $20,000? And I said, ‘Whoa.’ I said, ‘You know what? I need to pray about this,’” she explained. “The second time I sent $35,000. Then two weeks later, another $35,000. His pastor is sending him $250,000. Can I match it? Which was a dumb thing.”
The money DeMask sent over time eventually totaled nearly $1 million. She was told by the scammer that her investment would double, but instead, she now owes money to her bank—funds she borrowed from a home equity loan. In addition, DeMask faces taxes on the investment withdrawals she made.
“There’s $400 left. That’s it, $400,” she said.
DeMask and her son revealed that the money had been sent via cashier’s checks or wire transfers through Fifth Third Bank.
“She was sending $100,000, $300,000, $50,000 at a time, and it was never brought up and stopped and checked,” said Ed DeMask, Erika’s son.
After reporting the scam to the FBI and the Secret Service, they were told that the bank should have detected unusual financial activity.
“I kept transferring money from Fifth Third from the investment accounts, they never questioned, ‘Why are you closing this whole account?’” Erika DeMask said.
Fifth Third responded in a letter to DeMask, explaining that they ask customers a series of questions before processing a wire transfer, and the responses “did not raise concern for potential fraud.”
In a statement to the I-Team, Fifth Third Bank said, “The Bank meets applicable Red Flags provisions of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA).”
INTERPOL and other global authorities report that many of these scams originate from organized crime compounds in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world.
The FBI warns that if money is wired or transferred via cryptocurrency, the chances of recovery are slim. However, there is hope if the fraud is reported immediately.
“Our recovery asset team has had tremendous success in the last several years and recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for victims,” Barnacle said.
Unfortunately, authorities were unable to recover DeMask’s lost funds, but for her, the most painful part has been letting go of her home and the memories tied to it, including a chalkboard in her garage.
“This was here when we moved here and my grandson, Teddy, he’s the only one that ever wrote on there. And every time I looked at it, I have a hard time. A lot of things are going to be gone and it’s hard,” she said.
To protect yourself from becoming a victim, experts stress that you should never send money to someone you’ve met only online. Additionally, many financial institutions now allow you to add trusted contacts to your account, enabling banks to reach out to a family member if suspicious activity is detected.
Leave a Reply