MRichard333

avoid Romance scams online and especially on dating apps

How I Infiltrated a Romance Scam Ring — MRichard333

How I Infiltrated a Romance Scam Ring for 3 Months

And helped shut down a fraudulent crypto exchange stealing millions

About the Author

I'm Matthieu Richard, Founder and CEO of MRichard333.com — a cybersecurity and fraud prevention platform. Since 2017, I've been exposing scammers, starting with tech-support fraud on my YouTube channel. Over the years, my community has helped take down hundreds of fraudulent operations by reporting scammer phone numbers and websites through our Discord server.

But the landscape has changed. What used to take a day of research now feels nearly impossible. Scammers have evolved, and romance scams have become their weapon of choice.

The Rise of Romance Scams

In recent years, I've noticed a dramatic surge in romance scam reports — particularly on dating apps. With the advent of deepfakes and AI, impersonation scams have exploded. Scammers pretend to be celebrities like Keanu Reeves (yes, my favorite actor) to manipulate fans into sending money for fake meet-and-greets.

Red Flag #1: Anyone asking you to pay in gift cards is running a scam. Period. No legitimate person or business operates this way. If someone requests Amazon gift cards, iTunes cards, or any prepaid cards as payment — it's fraud 99.99% of the time.

I've personally received "proof" photos from someone claiming to be Keanu, asking for $700 in Amazon gift cards to arrange a meeting. The photo was altered, and the request was laughable — but thousands fall for these schemes every year.

Going Undercover: My 3-Month Investigation

After receiving multiple romance scam reports, I decided to investigate one firsthand. Here's where it gets interesting: I met her on Facebook Dating.

This wasn't your typical amateur scammer. She was sophisticated, patient, and dangerously convincing. We communicated for nearly three months. She was a master manipulator, and I played along to see how deep the operation went.

The Setup: Building Trust

Here's how the scam unfolded:

Week 1-2: Initial Contact

She presented as an Asian woman around 30, claiming to live in my city. We had video calls — same person, same face as the photos. Legitimate-looking at first glance.

Week 3-4: Moving Off-Platform

She quickly transitioned from Facebook to WhatsApp, where tracking becomes significantly harder. Classic scammer move to avoid platform monitoring.

Month 2: The Long Game

No immediate money requests. Instead, she casually mentioned her crypto investments — how much money she was making, how careful she was with risk management. She even talked about meeting my parents. Everything felt calculated to build emotional investment.

Month 3: The Hook

Finally, the pitch: she invited me to invest through Binance — a legitimate, government-registered platform. Smart move. This gave the entire operation credibility.

Red Flag #2: Scammers often start with legitimate platforms to build trust, then ask you to transfer funds to an unregistered exchange. This is where the fraud happens.

The Trap: Quark Exchange

After getting me comfortable with Binance, she asked me to transfer Bitcoin to another platform: Quark Exchange — a completely fraudulent exchange with no regulatory registration anywhere in the world.

I transferred a small test amount. As expected, I lost it immediately. But here's the scale of the problem: fraud departments have seen victims lose up to $1.4 million to this exact type of scam.

$1.4M

Largest reported loss from a single romance crypto scam

The Investigation: Breaking Down Their Operation

Once inside the fake exchange, I got to work. Within five minutes of inspecting the source code, I found:

CSS animations mimicking a real trading interface
API calls pulling data from legitimate exchanges to display fake "live" prices
No actual blockchain integration — just smoke and mirrors

I ran a WHOIS lookup and discovered the site was hosted on Namecheap — coincidentally, the same provider I use. Having access to their premium support, I immediately contacted them with evidence including blockchain transaction IDs, screenshots, and communication logs.

I also filed reports with:

Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre
Local police
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Result: The website was shut down within 24 hours.

The Aftermath: They Don't Give Up Easily

About 10 hours after the takedown, she messaged me on WhatsApp. Her "aunt" (likely the developer) had told her the site was down for "maintenance and updates." Within hours, she sent me a new link — same fraudulent exchange, different domain name.

They had redeployed everything. Same design, same code, new URL. It was disheartening to see how quickly they could pivot.

Red Flag #3: The new site now required ID verification "to comply with regulations and prevent fraud." In reality, they were expanding their operation to steal identities on top of money.

I confronted her. She realized I was behind the takedown. Her final message? "Take care," along with a photo from inside an airplane. Then she deleted all her accounts — WhatsApp, Facebook, everything.

Investigation over. Scammer vanished. But the operation continues elsewhere, with new victims.

Why This Matters

According to FBI data, less than 9% of money stolen in cybercrimes is ever recovered. Once your money is gone — especially in cryptocurrency — it's nearly impossible to get back.

<9%

Recovery rate for money lost to cybercrime (FBI)

Prevention is your only real defense. That's why I share these stories — to help you recognize the warning signs before it's too late.

How to Protect Yourself

Verify Before You Trust

If someone introduces you to a crypto exchange or investment platform, verify it through your country's financial regulatory authority:

In the US: Check the SEC and CFTC registrations
In Canada: Check FINTRAC and provincial securities commissions
In the EU: Verify through your national financial authority

If the exchange isn't officially registered, don't enter your information or money. Period.

Additional Tools

I also recommend using MyWOT to check user-generated reports and flag fraudulent websites. It's not perfect, but it's another layer of protection.

Remember: Legitimate businesses don't ask for payment in gift cards, won't rush you to invest, and will be registered with government financial authorities. If any of these red flags appear, walk away.

Help Us Fight Fraud

Have you experienced a romance scam or other cybercrime? Report it to us and help protect others from falling victim to the same schemes.

Report a Scam

Our Mission

At MRichard333.com, we're committed to transparency and honesty. For three years, we operated as a volunteer-run initiative. Recently, we launched web services for website and Discord bot owners to help fund our fraud prevention work.

We also offer an affiliate program where you can earn 25% commission for every referral to our services. If you believe in our mission, consider joining us.

Apply to Affiliate Program

Stay safe out there. Read more of our Fraud awareness articles, and don't hesitate to reach out if you need help.