It was her first time on a dating app. She was scammed out of $400,000.
In Part 2 of our documentary "The Crypto Scammer," Niki tells Brut filmmaker Jessey Dearing how she found out she was being swindled ...
In Part 2 of our documentary "The Crypto Scammer," Niki tells Brut filmmaker Jessey Dearing how she found out she was being swindled ...
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00:00I remember making all of these wire transfers from the end of November all the way to December 14.
00:08These were huge, huge amounts of money that I thought was going into a legit fund,
00:14an investment platform that the scammer, Hal, convinced me to do.
00:19So, it's just crazy, just all of this was on paper and stuff, and it's just gone like that.
00:26In our previous film, we met 24-year-old Nikki Hutchinson, and watched as her first time on a dating app
00:31spiraled into investing nearly $400,000 into cryptocurrency, using the money that she had made from selling her childhood home.
00:38But when she went to cash in on her profits, something wasn't adding up.
00:42I decided to get on Hinge dating app. That's when I actually met this guy named Hal.
00:47I asked about hobbies, and he rattled off a ton of hobbies, and then at the end, it said cryptocurrency.
00:56Which is where it all started.
01:00He said, you could be a millionaire at the end of the year.
01:05And now I'm currently living in an RV with my dad.
01:08You don't expect someone to take what you've shared, and twist it, or manipulate it, or grab onto it,
01:27and pull those fears or those emotions out of you.
01:31And I think I was in a very vulnerable state, because we just sold my childhood home.
01:38I didn't have a place to live. There were still so many unclear answers.
01:51At that point, he was like, well, have you thought about getting your dad involved?
01:56That's when I came to him and I told him, I'm seeing really good margins, I'm seeing profit.
02:01Numbers don't lie. I think you should consider investing.
02:06Now it was more of us involved, my dad and I. We totaled almost $390K into this platform.
02:35Nikki was depositing her money into real cryptocurrency platforms like Crypto.com.
02:40But Hal was scamming her by having her transfer her money into a fake platform,
02:44where it looked like she was buying and selling crypto and making profits.
02:48But when she made those transfers, this is where Hal was taking her money.
02:52Nikki thought that she and her dad had amassed $1.2 million in crypto when she was ready to withdraw.
02:59December 19th is when I finally decided to withdraw.
03:04And that's where I got this weird message from the customer service.
03:16The taxes were over $360,000. And I flipped out.
03:29The way they worded it was kind of odd. How are you going to pay my taxes?
03:44You don't know all my information to pay my taxes.
03:58That's kind of like where the realization hit that this was a scam.
04:18I was just like really confused and scared. By then we had less than $1,000 combined in our bank accounts.
04:26So the taxes were just part of the scam to get you to give them more money?
04:30100%. All they're trying to do is get as much money from you.
04:35They'll squeeze every penny out and they'll do it with fear tactics.
04:40You know, they'll do it with these timelines.
04:49My dad could just tell I was on edge.
04:51I wasn't hungry. I wasn't drinking. And I just looked very much distraught.
04:58And he said, what's wrong? And that's when I just started bawling.
05:02And I just said, I think I lost all this money. I think we've been in a scam.
05:08And he just hugged me and said, it's going to be all right. And we're going to get through this.
05:15I felt that, but I also just remember feeling still alone, feeling like I did this to myself and now to my dad.
05:24And so that was really hard.
05:29Christmas is coming up and I just remember that we didn't have any money to spend on each other.
05:35I called Suicide Hotline because I just felt so alone.
05:41A woman picked up and it was like the first time I could just start crying to someone.
05:47She told me like, you were a victim. You were manipulated, taken advantage of.
05:53This was not your fault. It was the first time I heard it's not your fault.
06:01I am looking at all my wire transfers or transactions, I should say.
06:05These two are $60,000. This one's a $50,000 one. This one was with my dad and I.
06:14Yeah, I remember making all of these wire transfers from end of November all the way to December 14th.
06:22These were huge, huge amounts of money that I thought was going into a legit fund and investment platform that the scammer, Hal, convinced me to do.
06:34So it's just crazy. All of this was on paper and stuff and it's just gone like that.
06:41And it's weird, actually. Looking back, I feel a little bit disconnected because I don't know if I want,
06:47personally, maybe my mind just doesn't want to connect again to the feeling.
06:53He just took everything from me and my father. So that's always difficult.
07:00I actually met with the investigator. He pretty much told me the really bad news and the truth of the matter,
07:08which is, look, these people we figured out are out of the country. They're probably in Cambodia.
07:14It's still an active case, but it's still, the odds of getting anything back are pretty low.
07:29I didn't want to talk to anybody. I didn't want to do anything. I didn't want to, just wanted to just hide.
07:44And I was trying to hide in a bottle of vodka. I did that for like two months, trying to hide instead of facing it.
07:57March the 3rd, I said, enough's enough. I said, you know, Nick, I haven't had anything to drink in three days.
08:05And she said, I know, Dad. It shows. So she knew. She knew.
08:13Yeah, that was, oof.
08:16Yeah, I know. You don't realize the impact you have on loved ones.
08:21I feel like I missed an opportunity that may have prevented it. So I have a little bit of guilt about that.
08:31I think there's a lot of things that we both look back on of like red flags. We would have, should have, could have.
08:38But, you know, I don't think we would have ever had this type of bond and like relationship to openly share these types of things
08:47if it wasn't for the hardships we both went through with this scam. And like, obviously it was painful and I wish we never had to deal with it.
08:56But, you know, again, the silver lining is we got closer.
09:07I finally went back to Hal on WhatsApp and I said, I cannot believe you swindled my dad and I.
09:13Not only me, but my dad, who's retired, who's 66. You've just taken so much from me and from my family.
09:20And I just said, I don't know how you can sleep at night. And he said goodbye. And I said goodbye. And that was the last time we ever spoke.
09:44Have you been on Hinge again?
09:48Have I been on Hinge again? No, I've not been on Hinge or Tinder or any dating apps.
09:56That said, would I ever go on a dating app? Maybe if I was desperate or maybe if I'm bored, I'll be honest.
10:05But do I think I would actually find a relationship out of one? No.
10:11My worst fear happened is not having any money. I now know I'm like, OK, well, this is the worst that can happen to me personally.
10:21Hopefully this will be it. And you can only rise and go up now.