A 73-year-old New York woman, Kyle Holder, lost her entire $300,000 retirement savings in a sophisticated crypto scam that leveraged artificial intelligence tools, according to CBS News. The scam began in December 2024 when Holder, recovering from an injury that prevented her from working as an occupational therapist, replied to an unsolicited WhatsApp message advertising a crypto investment course.
Holder was connected with a person using the alias "Niamh," who claimed to be a single mother. Niamh and a supposed customer service representative helped Holder set up crypto wallets and transfer tokens. After an initial small investment yielded large returns—a classic "pig butchering" tactic—Holder sent a total of $300,000 to 14 different crypto wallets over two months. When the funds stopped appearing, Holder confronted Niamh, who deflected blame by claiming a "fatal mistake" in sending assets to the wrong address. The victim fell into severe depression and was hospitalized by social services; she now lives in an assisted care facility supported by Medicaid.
The IRS Criminal Investigation New York Field Office traced the 14 wallet addresses back to five wallets used to launder approximately $5 million stolen from multiple victims. IRS agent Harry Chavis stated that investigators believe criminals used AI tools available on the dark web to scrape personal information and identify vulnerable targets, creating scripts to target specific victims. Chavis urged victims to report scams without shame, emphasizing that anyone can fall prey to these sophisticated schemes.
FBI data reveals that crypto fraud losses hit $11 billion in 2025, out of $21 billion in total cyber-related fraud losses across 453,000 complaints. The FBI identified 22,364 complaints involving AI tools, with combined losses of $893 million. In a separate case, Sze Man Yu Inos received a 71-month prison term for a bitcoin wire fraud scheme targeting older women, with $769,355 in ordered restitution. Federal agencies advise that unsolicited contact, urgency, and guaranteed returns in crypto are red flags for scams.
