An Omaha woman lost over $730,000 to a cryptocurrency scam.
In a document filed in United States District Court in Nebraska on Wednesday, the woman, identified only as MM, met a person named Stefan Lang on an online dating platform in 2021. Lang convinced the woman to invest her savings in cryptocurrency.
From June to August of that year, the woman deposited $732,937.10 in Bitcoin and sent it to a Bitcoin miner identified as Michael Girard. When the woman attempted to withdraw her Bitcoin wallets, Girard told her she would have to pay an 18% clearance fee to receive her money.
Despite sending the clarification fee in three installments, the woman did not receive her money when she was told the clarification fee had to be paid in one transaction.
That’s when the woman contacted local police, who then notified the FBI on September 2, 2021. The FBI identified nine accounts used in the electronic money laundering scheme against the victim. The accounts belonged to Binance Holdings, a company located in the Cayman Islands.
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The FBI seized the cryptocurrency in February 2022 via an arrest warrant and currently has custody of the property. The federal government is asking the court that the money be drained to the United States. The case has been assigned to a federal judge.
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