Jackie Crenshaw of Connecticut is highlighting the warning signs for other seniors like her that she should’ve paid attention to after being scammed out of her 401(k) savings all in the name of potential love, Yahoo! Finance reports.
At 60, Crenshaw was looking for someone to share her life with after admitting that her career and friends weren’t keeping her warm at night. She took a gamble and signed up on BLK, the online dating app that caters to Black singles. She quickly met someone named “Brandon” who identified himself as a widower with two children. But Crenshaw said the conversations quickly navigated from romantic to financial.
Two months in, the conversation turned to investing in cryptocurrency, starting with her sending $40,000, and prompting her to spend more after the scammer shared screenshots
of how well her investments were doing. Crenshaw ultimately spent close to $1 million—and wiped out her 401(k).She’s not alone. Data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Report revealed Americans reported romance and confidence scams cost them more than $670 million in 2024. With victims aged 60 and over reporting the highest combined total losses — more than $389 million — lawmakers decided to do something about it.
Partnering with AARP Connecticut, Crenshaw garnered support from state Attorney General William Tong for a public service announcement to warn others like her about the rise in online exploitation and the signs to watch for. Starting with the common form of “love bombing,” involving “excessive attention, affection, compliments, declarations of love,” the PSA touched on warning signals of
being scammed. “Jackie Crenshaw did everything right. She was a leader in a profession that was saving lives. She owned her own home. She was a beloved rock of her large extended family. She wanted someone to share in her success, and she thought she had found that love. It was a scam, and now she is bravely sharing her story to prevent others from being harmed,” Tong said in the announcement featuring the breast imaging manager.“Jackie is just one of thousands of older adults who each year lose their life savings to online romance scams. Together with AARP, we are sharing this important information across the airwaves to help stop these scams before they start.”
As romance scams typically start with a “been there, seen that” script, including
creating an appealing persona and building emotional intimacy, cybersecurity expert Adam Levin said, people asking for money without even knowing a person is one of the first warning signs outside of refusing to be on camera or meet in person. “They get you involved, and they help you open an account. Oftentimes, it’s on a legitimate site. You make some money. They even let you take the money out, but then they kind of wet your whistle,” Levin said. “You get really excited about it, and then all you want to do is do more and more and more.”The PSA also recommended keeping conversations on the dating site. Crenshaw said that shortly after connecting, the scammer wanted to move the conversation offline, seeking her email address and phone number. “Once a scammer has your name, phone number, and email address, they can find your family members, your wages, the property you own,” the PSA said.
“Take time to verify the person’s identity before sharing your information.”
Lastly, it is recommended to do a reverse image search. It is a helpful tactic for detecting an image’s source, which could be traced back to someone else’s social media account. Crenshaw and a friend conducted a search to see where Brandon’s photos had appeared online.
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