- Holmes County man bilked out of $1.3 million in scam.
- Victim made cash payments from September to December.
- FBI sting nabs courier who collected cash.
CLEVELAND − A 68-year-old Holmes County man was bilked out of $1.3 million in a cryptocurrency scam. The expensive nightmare began in August when the victim got a message on Facebook.
According to an affidavit filed in Federal Court by a special agent of the FBI, the victim reported someone named Caitronia Lee messaged him about hunting. He shared with Lee he wanted to hunt wild animals in Africa. Lee claimed she had the perfect investment opportunity to make his dream become a reality.
He lost a total of $1.3 million. According to the report, criminals convinced the man to use an app that looked real.
How the scam played out
The victim downloaded an app. One scammer pretended to be the service director and instructed the victim to drop off cash to a courier in the parking lot of Lowe’s in Mount Vernon.
The victim met a courier five times from September to December, handing over hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, according to the report.
The scammer said the courier would put the money into a crypto account. This is a common pattern in Northeast Ohio, according to the FBI public affairs.
The victim watched his investment grow to more than $15 million, but then he couldn’t withdraw it. The scammers started giving him excuses, and that’s when he finally realized, it was all a hoax.
He reported the crime to the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office in December.
Detective Bryan Lauriha of the HCSO said while the victim was from Holmes County, all of the transactions took place out of the county’s jurisdiction and he was directed to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Courier arrested in sting operation
The FBI took the lead, setting up a sting at the Lowe’s, which led to the arrest of the courier. Agents gave the victim $1.4 million in phony cash.
According to court documents, Lin Kai was arrested as he took the bag of cash from the victim. Federal agents took the New York man into custody for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Kai told agents he didn’t know who he worked for, and he made $2,000 every time he made a pick-up, according to the FBI.
Kai is currently on a $20,000 bond. The court also granted a time extension to indict Kai, so they have until May 3 to indict him. He is defended by attorneys Darin Thompson and Jeffrey Lazarus, both public defenders.
$2.5 billion lost in cryptocurrency
According to FBI data, in 2022, Americans lost more than $2.5 billion in cryptocurrency, with Ohioans accounting for more than $30 million of that total.
Lauriha suggested if somebody is told they won a sweepstakes or something like that, they should contact the Sheriff’s Office if they think it’s not real.
“If you didn’t enter a sweepstakes, how can you win,” Lauriha said.
He added if people want to help someone, please do. But remember there are a lot of local charitable organizations that are doing great things.
“You can deal directly with people around here. You don’t have to send money off to someone in California or Texas,” he said. “If there is a resident in our county and they have a question about something like this, they can call the Sheriff’s Office and we can direct them on what to do or follow up on the complaint.”