A man in B.C. has some advice after his dad fell victim to a huge cryptocurrency scam that tricked him out of his life savings.

“Talk to your parents. Talk to your grandparents. Talk to your aunts and uncles and neighbors and anyone older, and just tell them sternly, ‘Do not spend any money online. Do not trust any investment schemes online,’” said Andrew Knapp.

Knapp tells CityNews that his 76-year-old father, who lives in Sudbury, Ont., clicked on an online ad saying that anyone who invested $250 would see a huge return.

That $250 then turned to more than $100,000, Knapp says.

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“It’s always ‘just give us a little bit more’ and promising a lot more, and it just got exponential,” Knapp shared.

It was several months before Knapp’s father knew that something was wrong.

“In looking at it, I’m like, ‘Wow, okay, this is 100% a scam,’ but my 76-year-old dad who was connecting with them, was hopeful and trustful, didn’t see that,” Knapp said.

Knapp says the scam has weighed heavily on his dad’s mental health, and the fear and shame meant his dad only asked him for help months later when it was too late.

“I was calling him and saying, ‘How are you’ every week and he would say, ‘I’m good.’ And then a couple of months ago it changed to ‘I’m okay.’ That was kind of a big deal that he wouldn’t say ‘I’m good’ anymore, … because I knew what ‘okay’ meant. And That just crushed me.”

He’s now urging people to engage their loved ones in conversation, and talk to them about the methods scammers use, such as appealing to their emotions and building relationships.

The Greater Sudbury Police Service confirmed to CityNews it is investigating the incident.

A GoFundMe has been set up for Knapp’s father to help him recover the thousands of dollars lost.