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JUPITER, Florida (WPBF) — A 67-year-old man says he lost more than $700,000, along with his home, vehicle and retirement savings, after he says he may have fallen victim to what experts call a “pig butchering” scam.
A “pig butchering” scam is a fast-growing form of fraud that often targets older adults by combining romance and fake cryptocurrency investments.
Karl Geissler, who has lived in Jupiter for nearly three decades, says the scam unfolded over the course of nearly a year, beginning with what seemed like an innocent wrong-number text.
“I get, of course, a random text. Somebody looking for Judy,” he told WPBF.
Instead of ignoring it, Geissler responded jokingly.
“I texted back, ‘This isn’t Judy. This is a single guy down in South Florida,'” he said.
The conversation continued. Geissler says the woman, who went by Aileen, claimed to live in Los Angeles and originally be from Singapore. He says they began talking every day. Over time, Geissler says they developed what he believed was a genuine relationship.
“She would talk about herself a little bit, and I talked about myself. We kind of got a little relationship going,” he said.
Eventually, he says she introduced him to what she described as a lucrative investment opportunity managed by her wealthy aunt, who allegedly worked with a team of gold market analysts.
“She asked me, you know, would you like to make more money? I go, well, everybody would like to,” Geissler said.
He started small.
“I thought, ‘You know what? I could burn 500 bucks just to see where it went,'” he said.
Geissler says the returns displayed on the investment platform appeared real, encouraging him to invest more.
He says he eventually sold the home he inherited from his parents and his vehicle to continue funding the investments.
“By the end of November, I had probably like 1.09 million in the account from doing the investments. I go, ‘Well, this is nice making this kind of money,'” he said.
Geissler says the woman also convinced him they had a future together and they referred to each other as husband and wife.
According to Geissler, each time they planned to meet was interrupted by a series of emergencies involving the woman’s wealthy aunt, including a claimed heart attack aboard a private plane and later her death.
Geissler said he even flew to Houston and briefly met the woman he believed to be “Aileen” before more excuses got in the way of them spending time together.
Looking back, he says his desire for companionship clouded his judgment.
“The one thing I didn’t have was love,” he said.
As the months passed, Geissler continued sending money. He says he believed he was preparing for a new life with the woman. He says he wanted to retire and move to California to be with her, so he sold the pool maintenance business he had operated for nearly 28 years.
“Eventually, the communication got cut off, so this is where I’m at now,” Geissler said.
He says accepting what happened has been difficult.
“Sometimes certain things that Aileen and I had talked about seemed very true to me. I still feel a little maybe neutral, but more of, I’ve got to take care of myself right now,” he told WPBF.
Today, Geissler says he has lost around $700,000. He now relies on a bicycle for transportation while searching for work.
“That’s my main form of transportation,” Geissler said.
He has been staying in a local hotel while trying to rebuild his life and says transportation has become one of his biggest obstacles to finding employment.
However, Geissler says he refuses to give up.
“I’ve always been a hard worker. Go out there earning money in the old-fashioned way. Just go out there and work and don’t complain,” he said.
Friends have launched a GoFundMe campaign to help him rebuild.
Geissler says he decided to share his story publicly because he hopes others recognize the warning signs before they lose everything.
“I believed from my heart that it was real. I took a chance,” he said.
According to the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, pig butchering is an investment scam where fraudsters gain the trust of victims over time and then deceive them into investing in fake crypto assets or another fraudulent investment opportunity.
The DFPI says the term refers to the agricultural practice of fattening pigs before slaughter, symbolizing how scammers “fatten” their victims with false attention before exploiting them financially.
To participate in the investment opportunity, the DFPI says scammers will provide a website or wallet address for the victim to transfer funds. The fake platform often promises huge returns in a short period of time.
According to the DFPI, the fraudulent platforms are designed to look and function like a real trading platform. They may even be available on the Apple App or Google Play stores.
Experts say it’s important to submit a complaint with the DFPI on crypto scams quickly, and in order to find your crypto on the blockchain, you must provide complete and accurate information.
More information on this scam can be found on the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation website.
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