Imagine this: You've made 2 million from crypto trading, achieving your first small life goal, and are preparing to diversify risks and find some reliable investment opportunities.

At this moment, your girlfriend's friend comes knocking.

You met in a crypto group and have known each other for two years. Initially just friends, chatting about market trends, projects, exchanging jokes, and poking fun at market absurdities - gradually, the relationship changed. She would greet you morning and night, send selfies, share her feelings, saying she feels lonely in Beijing, and that only you make her feel the world still has some warmth. Unknowingly, you started to develop feelings.

She's in the oil business, owns several gas stations, does shipping trade, participates in Moutai liquor channels, and has a hundred million in overseas trust. Her social media is filled with plane tickets and yachts, frequently checking in different countries - a lifestyle that is incredibly attractive to you. She's confident, independent, even somewhat assertive - you start to feel she's not just a girlfriend, but someone more "capable" than yourself.

You can't help but marvel at how fate always favors you, finding a lover in this cold crypto world who shares common topics and is willing to brave bull and bear markets together.

One day, she tells you about a Sinopec cooperation business, a short-term cash flow deal with high returns - 10% profit per month. She says she's just a little short on funds and wants only you to participate, not wanting to tell others.

You hesitate a bit, but she sounds very certain, and you've been dating for a while and know her character, understanding she's not someone who casually asks for money. She doesn't formally request, just mentions the opportunity if you're interested, without pressure.

With 200,000 in hand, you decide to try 100,000, thinking it's not a big deal.

Over the next two months, she truly transfers the interest as promised, 10,000 each month, without delay. This completely disarms your guard. You feel you've not only found love but also a reliable business partner. You even start imagining you two could do projects together, invest together, make money together, like those "power couples" you admire.

Then, the twist comes.

She suddenly tells you her company account is frozen, with hundreds of millions in goods, and the business is falling apart. Employees are pressing, suppliers are causing trouble, and things are about to go wrong. She says she's gathered most of the funds, just short 300,000, and asks if you can help. She repeatedly emphasizes: not a loan, but an emergency, and she'll return it immediately once the money is unfrozen.

She's emotionally low, even shedding tears, saying she shouldn't burden you with these pressures, and would never ask if not absolutely necessary.

You're stunned. Flashing through your mind are the things she's done for you, your gentle late-night conversations, her words when you received interest: "Rest assured, I'm a reliable person".

Your hand loosens, and you transfer the money...

Another young crypto player scammed out of 200 million

This is Big Peach's real story.

Except, Big Peach's savings weren't 200,000, but 200 million. The investment to his "girlfriend" wasn't 100,000, but 10 million and 30 million.

And she, far from being a "girlfriend" or a "benefactor", is named Zhang Bai, a "hunter" behind a mature, well-organized, two-year "emotional + investment fraud" gang. Their trap was more intricate than imagined - from a glamorous and wealthy persona, to a fake romantic relationship, from forged sources and police notices, to fake lawyers, fake police, fake companies, fake seizures, and escalating "crisis resolution".

On social media, Big Peach recorded a 20-minute video, detailing his entire fraud experience. He could have retired before 30, living a life of driving supercars and traveling the world. Now, he's left with just a phone and these suffocating memories.

After Big Peach transferred 30 million to help "unfreeze" the account, Zhang Bai "thanked" him by sending a Lamborghini Urus, a top-configured model worth over 4 million.

He thought it was love's reward, only later realizing the car was bought with his own money, with plates from her friend's company. This was another clever part of the scam:

Give you some rewards and sweetness - to make you think everything is real.

In April 2023, Big Peach wanted to buy a Ferrari 812 GTS. Zhang Bai said she had connections for an internal channel with a good price. She suggested buying and registering under a "familiar company" name for easier accounting and to avoid tax scrutiny. Big Peach transferred 7 million without hesitation.

A few days later, she returned, saying the newly registered company's insufficient flow made tax authorities suspect "tax evasion", with the car payment account now frozen, needing another payment to follow proper procedures. Big Peach chose to trust again. Another 7 million transferred. Over the next two months, Zhang Bai extracted over 30 million from him under reasons like "tax investigation", "corporate joint liability", and "large fines". By then, half of Big Peach's 100 million was almost emptied. Yet he continued to believe.

The subsequent "traps" became more frequent, occurring almost monthly.

In October, it was a mask goods issue, a "pandemic materials fraud case". She cried for help, and Big Peach transferred over 10 million.

In November, company employees were taken by police, with records mentioning Big Peach as a "key money laundering figure", needing someone to take the blame. She suggested spending 10 million to settle, including 3 million "compensation" to Liu Yuqiao to go to jail. Big Peach hesitated but transferred.

In December, "sudden account checks" happened nationwide. Cards frozen in the east, tax investigations in the west, with "crises" every few days requiring tens or hundreds of thousands in "handling fees", with transfers unable to keep up with script updates.

…………

By July 2024, Big Peach was completely broke.

He sold all his supercars, his account almost empty. He finally began to wake up, organizing all past chat records, transfer receipts, and travel arrangements, and reported to the police.

The most ironic part: he went to the police station together with Zhang Bai. Meaning when he reported the crime, he still didn't know the "girlfriend" sitting beside him was actually one of the main culprits of this shocking fraud.

Big Peach is not the only victim

The crypto world has never lacked myths, but also never lacked nightmares. You see someone getting rich overnight, but can't see the many others who have blown up their crypto accounts, been trapped by "love + investment" dual-line setups, and emptied their assets...

In recent years, the crypto world has become a "hot cake".

The crypto world is too young, too profitable, too mixed, and too lonely. It gathers a group of people eager for quick wealth, with strong emotional fluctuations and blurred social boundaries. And such people are precisely the ideal targets in scammers' eyes.

Big Peach is not the only victim. Nor are crypto players the only ones.