Gary Edmunds, 72, lost £30,000 to a bitcoin scam
When Gary Edmunds joined an online car enthusiasts group on Facebook, he could never have envisaged it would lead to a £30,000 loss and the sale of his home.
But after being befriended by a woman claiming to be a car dealer online, he fell for a bitcoin investment scheme and now he owes thousands of pounds to his bank.
He initially bought into the scam because he wanted to buy a motorhome for a holiday with his late wife, who had Alzheimers.
After losing his wife a few months ago, he now wants to warn others about how easy it is to fall for a scam online.
Here’s how it unfolded…
‘I just wanted to buy a motorhome for my wife’
Before he retired, Edmunds, 72, who now lives in Norfolk, led a successful hydraulics business and worked on the Thames Barrier.
Starting out as an entrepreneur in the 1970s and 80s, he used to meet with Margaret Thatcher and business leaders.
Edmunds once even rubbed shoulders with Richard Branson at a Budget meeting, where he mistook the tycoon for the owner of Branston’s pickle.
But now, the retired businessman is in ‘dire straits’ having fallen for a complicated investment scam, and the same fraudsters have tried to dupe him since.
As the proud owner of a Rolls Royce, Edmunds joined a Rolls Royce and Bentley owner group on Facebook.
He was quickly befriended by a woman called Abelie, who claimed to work for the Bentley dealership in Manhattan, New York.
She even invited Edmunds and his wife Brenda over to the Big Apple.
At the time, Brenda had advanced Alzheimers and Edmunds wanted to buy a motorhome to take her away for a holiday.
Abelie asked Edmunds if he had considered investing in cryptocurrency to help fund the getaway.
‘I had looked into it ages ago when it first started. She told me she’d invested in a company called Sunlife Group.’
I had my own business for 30 years, but it means nothing now
Edmunds thought he was safe because he recognised the brand, but the scam is not affiliated to the legitimate Sunlife Group in the UK.
‘She put me in touch with a man called Maximo on Whatsapp who came back to me the next day and gave me more details. I put £2-3,000 in and read through it all.
‘My funds began to grow quite nicely so I thought I’d see if I could actually withdraw the money.
‘You have to put in an extra 20 per cent to withdraw the money, which was about $10,000 at this point.’
The money appeared in Edmunds’ bank account straight away.
‘I thought it was legitimate. I didn’t spend that money, I put it back into the investment account. I thought I was doing the right thing.
‘Then when the fund built up to $100,000, I thought I’d withdraw and buy the motor home.’
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‘I went from feast to famine’
At this point, Edmunds had invested about £16,000, but would need to add more to his account to withdraw the $100,000 in the account. So he took out a loan.
Unfortunately, the money did not appear in his account but Edmunds didn’t suspect anything straight away.
‘I was dealing with my wife’s condition which was getting worse and worse. For a couple of days I wasn’t too worried, but then Maximo became a different person and he ignored my messages.’
The car dealer – Abelie – also claimed to have been scammed, but then went silent.
I saw an opportunity that would make both of our lives better
The loss of the money has upended Edmunds’ life entirely: ‘I’ve gone from feast to famine.
‘It’s flattened me completely from being a very flamboyant business entrepreneur… I had my own business for 30 odd years, but it means nothing now.
‘You think I’d be wise but with all the caring for Brenda and doing everything for her, you take your eye off your ball. When you see an opportunity that will make both of your lives better…’
Edmunds’ had to sell his beloved Rolls Royce to pay for some of the costs and has put his house up for sale just months after the death of his wife.
‘It’s been very hard and it may have bankrupted me. I’ve missed payments because I’ve been dealing with my wife’s death. It’s broken me.’
‘The scammer got in touch later to try and get me to launder money’
Edmunds hadn’t heard from the car dealer Abelie since the scam last year, but she popped up again a couple of months ago.
She asked Edmunds to accept money into his bank account and forward them onto a cryptocurrency address, and he would be paid a commission.
Thankfully, he twigged this was far from legitimate and he wanted to avoid cryptocurrencies at all costs.
‘I smelt a rat. I went to the bank to assess the situation and the police became involved. They said it was a case of money muling.’
Money muling is a type of money laundering in which a ‘mule’ lets someone else use their ban account to transfer money. If you get caught doing this, you could get a criminal record.
He also believes he has been targeted by scammers since.
Earlier this year he met someone at a charity event, who contacted him on Facebook a few weeks later.
However, the woman’s account was cloned and he had in fact been speaking to a man in Colchester, according to the police.
‘I’ve basically blocked everyone I’m not sure of now. You can’t think properly.’
The impact of the scam on Edmunds has had a lasting impact on his mental health.
‘When these scams happen you want to crawl under a stone and die because you just feel so stupid. Once you’re in the trap, it’s like a rat trap – you can’t get out of it.’
‘I’m trying to be proactive to warn other people.
‘I’ve got the house up for sale and once it goes through, hopefully I can pay my debts off and get enough to get a small place.
‘A lot of people are a lot worse off than me.
‘It doesn’t matter what walk of life you’re in, to be scammed like this just kills your confidence. It kills my belief in people.
‘I don’t think this experience will ever leave me, until the day I die.’
