Wrong number crypto scam: $140,000 stolen in Canada

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It all started several months ago with a text message. The recipient thinks it's a wrong number and responds.

His interlocutor maintains the exchange, gains his trust, then directs him towards investing in cryptocurrencies. According to the Guelph police press release published on October 23, 2026, he convinced her to open accounts with several crypto platforms.

She pays her “investments” there by bank transfers and by deposits in cryptocurrency distributors. On the screen, his balance climbs significantly.

Then comes the withdrawal request. He is told that he must first pay substantial fees. Results: approximately 140,000 Canadian dollars lost.

This setup has a name among fraud specialists, pig butchering, literally “pig slaughter”. The victim is enriched with false winnings posted on a platform controlled by the scammers, then bled when he wants to recover his stake. The withdrawal “fees” serve as a final drain.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Center (CAFC) has identified approximately $351 million in losses in the first half of 2026. Investment fraud remains in the lead with 139.6 million, and the organization estimates that only 5 to 10% of frauds are reported to it.

Crypto terminals have been in the sights for a long time. As of 2023, an internal analysis by FINTRAC, the Canadian financial intelligence unit, described them as the method that fraudsters would still favor to collect and launder their victims' money. For the year 2024 alone, the CAFC estimated the losses declared via these machines at $14.2 million.

Ottawa decided in April. The Spring 2026 economic update proposes banning crypto ATMs nationwide, to deprive scammers of a preferred method of fleecing their victims. The country had nearly 4,000, one of the densest parks in the world. No effective date was set at the time of the announcement.

Guelph police repeat the basic instructions against this type of crypto scam. Be wary of any call, email or text message that requires you to act quickly, and contact the supposed sender yourself before spending a single dollar. Victims, even without loss, can report the facts to the CAFC.

There is nothing local about the pattern. In the United States, justice has already seized $225 million linked to pig butchering scams.

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Machine-translated from French