Man who fell victim to $800,000 cryptocurrency scam fights to get money back

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Knox County man says he invested more than $800,000 in cryptocurrency, only to find out the whole thing was a scam. He says the feds have located his money, but the funds are still frozen, and he doesn’t have access to them. 

“It’s a mess,” Dusty Frazier said. “I don’t know how to describe it other than this has been a mess.”

Frazier, who lives in Fredericktown, had a large stack of documents with him.

“I’ve kept a paper trail,” he said while sifting through the documents.

The papers serve as evidence of an ongoing investigation, but they’re also a reminder of one very bad investment. 

Frazier invested a little more than $807,000 of his own money in cryptocurrency. His bank statements document multiple payments sent to someone he befriended in early 2023.

“I met an individual online who I trusted, and it sounded real, it sounded promising,” Frazier said. “And he said, ‘Do you want to make some more money?’ So I trusted him.”

But things quickly took a turn for the worse. Frazier was told he had to keep investing, or risk losing everything.

“You get so far in it that you can’t get out of it,” Frazier said.

It was then that he realized he’d been the victim of a scam, and his $807,000 was gone.

“You go through a lot of depression,” he said. “I remember at the end I said to him, ‘You have taken everything away from me.’ And I told him, I said, ‘I feel like I could commit suicide.’ And he said, ‘Go ahead.’ He just started laughing at me on the phone.”

So Frazier reported everything to the authorities, who started investigating. Eventually, he got some good news.

“I met with the Secret Service from Columbus, and we had a nice conversation,” Frazier said. “And he said, ‘The good thing about it, you’re very lucky. We have your money.’”

This was music to Frazier’s ears, and he said it gave him a new sense of hope. But months went by, he said, and he never heard anymore.

“I reached out to the BCI, which is the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. He said, ‘Don’t give up, keep on. The secret service will eventually give your money back’.,” Frazier said. “I’ve been waiting and waiting, and I thought, ‘You know what? This needs some attention.’”

10TV reached out to the Secret Service agent, who told Frazier the money was secure. That agent corroborated Frazier’s story but asked to be left out of the report, suggesting we call the Columbus division of the Secret Service. That division transferred us to the Cincinnati division, which was one of many dead ends. 

Eventually, 10TV reached out to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, where the scam was first reported. Messages were left for at least four different detectives, but that got us nowhere. 

After countless rounds of emails and phone calls to different agencies, 10TV finally connected with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which agreed to meet with us at the Attorney General’s office.

“We’ve been able to freeze and seize a lot of cryptocurrency, and refund that money back to victims,” Special Agent Supervisor Scott Stranahan said.

He was not able to give details about Frazier’s case, but did provide some helpful insight about why it takes so long for people to get their money back once the funds are found.

“The cryptocurrency exchange could be based in another country,” Stranahan said. “That country may not accept legal process from the U.S., meaning a subpoena, a search warrant, a court order. They could just turn away and say, ‘we don’t want to honor that,’ because they’re not based in the US.”

So Frazier continues to wait, trying to remain hopeful he will once again have access to his money.

“I work a 40-hour week. I’m 70 years old, and I should be retired and enjoying life, but I have to work,” he said. “I just hope that we can get this resolved.”

So how can you avoid getting scammed? There are some red flags to watch out for. 

For starters, be careful trusting someone you met online, especially if they’re offering investment opportunities. Also, watch out for anything that requires you to take immediate action like sending money. 

It can be embarrassing to fall victim to a scam like this, but Stranahan said this happens all the time to people of all ages.

The most important thing is making sure you report the scam as soon as possible. The sooner law enforcement gets involved, the better chance you have of getting your money back.