I lost my house deposit to a 'sweetheart' on a local hiking app, what can I even do now?
I am so utterly devastated and honestly, embarrassed. I met this guy, Daniel, on a local hiking app, you know, for finding trails and stuff here in Victoria. We chatted for a month, seemed really genuine, we even video called a few times. He seemed so nice, talked about his family, his job in 'international finance' – alarm bells should've gone off, I know, but I was so lonely after my last breakup. He gradually started talking about this amazing crypto platform, 'GlobalTradeX,' that he was using, making incredible returns. Showed me screenshots, everything.
He convinced me to put in a 'small amount' to start, then slowly, over two months, I kept pouring more money in. It was my house deposit, about $48,000 CAD. I even saw profits on the dashboard! But when I tried to withdraw, they said I needed to pay a 20% 'tax' first. That's when I finally googled and found out it's a pig butchering scam. I feel so stupid. I reported it to my bank, but they said it's probably gone. I'm in Canada, what are my actual options for reporting this? Is there any point?
asked by Charlotte Morin· 10d ago