Lived Experience of Victims of Cryptocurrency Scams
Introduction
This piece is written to explain what victims of cryptocurrency scams actually experience, particularly when they try to report matters to police in New South Wales. It is based on my professional experience as a former detective with the NSW Police Force and my current work supporting victims of fraud and cybercrime.
This is not written as a criticism of individual police officers. It is written to describe the reality victims face, how current systems feel from their side, and why early police engagement matters so much in these cases.
Cryptocurrency scam matters are not rare edge cases anymore. They are large-scale, organised, and highly damaging crimes. How victims are treated at first contact often determines whether anything useful can be done at all.
1. What Happens to Victims Before They Report
Most victims of cryptocurrency-based scams do not lose money because they made a quick or careless decision. In the vast majority of cases, they have been groomed over time.
These scams often start like normal human interactions. A victim might meet someone through a dating app, social media platform, or messaging service. In the beginning, there is no mention of money or investing. The conversation is social. It feels normal. Over time, a relationship forms.
This process can take weeks or months. Victims speak to the offender every day. They talk in the morning and at night. They share personal details about their lives. The offender builds the victim’s trust deliberately and slowly.
Only after that trust is established does the topic of cryptocurrency come up. Even then, it is not presented as a sales pitch. The offender might talk about their own success, show screenshots of profits, or casually mention how well they are doing. The victim is not pressured. They are invited.
By the time money is transferred, the victim does not believe they are dealing with a stranger. They believe they are acting within a trusted relationship.
2. The Financial and Psychological Position of Victims
When these scams collapse, the damage is often severe. Many victims have lost their life savings. Others have taken out personal loans or borrowed against their homes. It is common to see losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The financial impact is only part of the harm. Victims are often dealing with intense shame and self-blame. They are embarrassed. They are afraid of being judged. Many have not told their families what has happened.
In some cases, victims are also being blackmailed. They may have sent intimate images to the offender during what they believed was a genuine relationship. Those images are later used to threaten and control them.
By the time a victim walks into a police station, they are often emotionally broken. Some are experiencing depression or anxiety. Some are thinking about suicide. For many, reporting to police feels like the last option they have.
3. What Victims Expect From Police
Most victims do not expect police to perform miracles. They generally understand that their money may not be recovered and that offenders may be located overseas.
What they are looking for is much simpler.
They want to be heard. They want their report taken seriously. They want someone to acknowledge that a crime has occurred. Most importantly, they want to know that someone is willing to try.
Victims can accept an unsuccessful outcome. What they struggle to accept is being dismissed or turned away.
4. Common Experiences When Reporting
Lack of Understanding of Cryptocurrency
One of the most common experiences victims report is dealing with officers who do not understand cryptocurrency at all. Victims are often met with visible confusion when they try to explain wallets, exchanges, or transactions.
In some cases, victims are directly told that police do not deal with cryptocurrency matters. In others, the message is implied.
From the victim’s perspective, this is deeply upsetting. The money is real. The loss is real. The harm is real. Being told, directly or indirectly, that police cannot help because they do not understand the technology, or have no interest in learning about it, feels like abandonment.
Being Redirected to Online Reporting
Another common experience is being told these matters can only be reported online through systems such as ReportCyber or Scamwatch.
While online reporting has a place, it creates serious problems for victims in complex matters. These systems do not allow victims to upload full evidence packs, transaction traces, wallet details, or prepared statements. Information becomes fragmented and delayed.
For victims who have already taken the step to attend a police station in person, being sent away to fill out an online form often feels like rejection. In instances where the referral is being made to the correct PAC, reporting online means it goes through multiple unnecessary hands to end up back at the PAC which the initial report was made.
Being Told Nothing Can Be Done
The most damaging response a victim can receive is being told that nothing can be done.
Even where recovery is unlikely, there are still legitimate investigative actions available. Matters can be formally recorded. Preservation requests can be sent to exchanges. Intelligence can be shared through national and international channels.
When victims hear that “nothing” can be done, what they understand is that no one is willing to try.
5. Why These Matters Are Police Business
Cryptocurrency investment scams are not small or isolated offences. They are organised criminal enterprises.
These operations involve multiple people performing different roles. There are recruiters, relationship builders, money handlers, and senior controllers. They operate across borders and target thousands of victims at a time.
Banks and insurance companies do not have the authority to investigate these matters or compel action from overseas entities. Only law enforcement can formally record offences, initiate international referrals, and preserve evidence.
Even when success is unlikely, the attempt itself matters.
Insightful Resources:
·Inside look at cybercriminal organizations: Why size matters | SC Media - https://www.scworld.com/analysis/inside-cybercriminal-organizations-why-size-matters
·7 Months Inside an Online Scam Labor Camp - The New York Times (paywall) - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/17/world/asia/myanmar-cyber-scam.html
·‘Scamming became the new farming’: inside India’s cybercrime villages | Cybercrime | The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/30/scamming-became-the-new-farming-inside-india-cybercrime-villages
6. The Impact of Police Interaction on Victims
The way a victim is treated when they report often determines what happens next.
A dismissive interaction can increase shame, worsen mental health, and cause victims to disengage entirely. It can also result in the loss of valuable intelligence.
A supportive interaction, even without a successful outcome, can stabilise a victim. It can preserve evidence and restore a sense of dignity.
Victims do not need certainty. They need to know that they were heard and taken seriously.
7. Why Early Action Matters
Cryptocurrency fraud is extremely time-sensitive. Funds move quickly. Exchange accounts can often only be frozen within short windows. Intelligence becomes less useful as time passes.
Delays are not neutral. Every delay reduces the chance of meaningful action.
Even limited early steps can improve outcomes and contribute to broader intelligence and disruption efforts.
Final Thoughts
Victims of cryptocurrency scams are people who were deliberately groomed and professionally deceived. By the time they report, many are dealing with severe financial and emotional harm.
They are not asking police to fix everything. They are asking for effort, dignity, and acknowledgment.
As this crime type continues to grow, the way victims are treated at first contact will have lasting consequences for trust, intelligence, and public confidence in policing.
Trying matters. Even when success is uncertain.
