Burnaby resident speaks out after losing $16K in cryptocurrency scam

A Burnaby resident who says she was swindled out of $16,000 in an elaborate cryptocurrency scam is speaking out to prevent others from being taken in.

Donna Stark told the Better Business Bureau she responded to an online ad that promised high-level growth for a small investment of $250 dollars into a cryptocurrency purportedly linked to Elon Musk, according to a Better Business Bureau news release.

Stark said she was quickly contacted by a salesperson who worked with her for several days to confirm her private information, according to the release.

She said she was then transferred to a “trader” who was supposed to help her make money through Shakepay, a Canadian mobile crypto-trading platform app used to buy and sell Bitcoin.

Stark said the trader used high-pressure tactics to make her believe she would miss out on the chance to make money in the market if she didn’t invest large sums.

“He only left me alone finally once he took out every penny from my credit card and my chequing account,” Stark said.

Later, the man’s partner phoned to say the market had crashed and Stark had lost all her money.

“I knew that this was not true and the whole thing was a scam and that they got what they wanted from me,” Stark said. “There was no one to phone as they used burner phones, and I wrote but they never responded.”

According to the latest BBB report, there has been an 87 per cent increase in online scams since 2015.

Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor

Email cnaylor@burnabynow.com