the man said he worked for the u.s. military and had no friends or family. they corresponded for a time, and the man quickly professed his admiration and love for frappier.
he phoned her, learned she lived alone and began to pressure her for money. he said he needed the money to travel to ottawa to visit. he promised to pay her back.
she resisted the idea, but he pleaded, and, “he wore me down,” frappier says.
although she had her doubts, frappier sent the man a series of gift cards. more requests for money followed, with varying explanations: an inability to access his bank accounts; the need to escape his work situation; medical issues. always he promised to pay back her money.
the man taught frappier how to open a bitcoin wallet and to deposit money for him.
“i like to help people,” frappier explains, “and i thought, ‘if he needs a bit of help, he needs to talk to somebody, he needs a bit of money, well, ok.’”
eventually, frappier recognized it as a scam. the man’s facebook messages and phone calls stopped when she stopped sending him money.
soon, though, frappier received a new friend request from another man, paul, who said he could help get her money back. frappier was desperate to recover her lost funds, and paul was able to convince her that he held her money and that she only had to open a new bitcoin wallet with $5,000 in order for all of her money to be released.