A real-estate agent believed he had discovered a promising crypto investment strategy. Then, he realized it was a fraudulent trading platform.

Screen shot of investment gains and potential profits.

Guest post from Jesse Ratner

A Portland, Oregon, real-estate agent believed he had discovered a promising crypto investment strategy. Within weeks, he realized he had stepped into a sophisticated investment scam built on emotional manipulation and a fraudulent trading platform.

Jonathan’s scam story began at his job. He’s a real-estate agent. During a routine conversation with a client, the topic turned to investing. Eventually, they referred Jonathan to Linda, who described herself as a Seattle-based cryptocurrency trader.

An investor since the 1970s, Jonathan had long been curious about investing in crypto. But because he lived in Oregon, he couldn’t trade the alternative currencies with his Fidelity account.

By all appearances, Linda was a perfect fit for Jonathan. She sent photos that seemed to support her story, including pictures of her Bentley and her waterfront home. Details that made her story feel even more credible.

It Looked Real: The Fraudulent Platform

Soon, Linda introduced Jonathan to a trading website called Milky Way. The platform appeared polished and professional, displaying cryptocurrency price charts, tickers, and a dashboard showing trading activity.

Linda explained that she monitored moments in the market she called “nodes.” When these opportunities appeared, she said, they allowed traders to execute short-term positions that produced reliable profits.

Linda’s strategy was to message Jonathan when a “node” appeared. He would then log into the platform and execute the trade.

“It was a gravitational pull. I could see my dollar amount rising.”

— Jonathan, investment scam surivor

Still, Jonathan proceeded cautiously. At first, he deposited about $5,000, followed by another $8,000.

Within weeks, the balance on the platform appeared to grow quickly. Jonathan watched with satisfaction as his account value rose from roughly $12,000 to more than $40,000. Each trade seemed to close with a profit, and his Milky Way account showed green numbers and steadily increasing balances.

Jonathan knew the warning about investments that appear too good to be true. But the results on the screen looked convincing and seemed to confirm that the strategy was working.

As the apparent profits increased, Linda began asking broader questions about Jonathan’s finances. She never directly asked him to send more money, but she often described larger trading opportunities that required more capital.

Over time, the conversations made the idea of increasing his investments seem reasonable. Jonathan eventually transferred substantially larger sums.

“I was going to sell Apple stock I’d had for decades to invest more.”

— Jonathan, investment scam survivor

Over several weeks, his Milky Way balance appeared to exceed $400,000.

At home, Jonathan finally mentioned the crypto investment to his wife, but described only the early stages. He didn’t tell her how much he’d invested. He hoped to show her the full results later, once he had documentation confirming the profits.

The Turning Point: The Apple Trade

After a few months, Jonathan decided to go big. He planned to sell a large portion of Apple stock he’d owned since the 1970s — and transfer the proceeds to Milky Way through Avantax, his wealth management advisor, and Fidelity Investments.

But before the transfer was completed, he received a call from the Avantax fraud department. The representative explained that the transaction appeared unusual and asked questions about the investment. Jonathan initially defended the opportunity and explained how the trades worked.

Later that same day, he received another call, this time from Fidelity’s fraud team. The representative asked more detailed questions about the platform and the trading process. And after reviewing the information, he offered a direct warning: The Milky Way platform did not appear legitimate.

Jonathan listened carefully. He thought about the money he had already transferred and the much larger amount he was about to send.

Then he thought about his wife.

“I might do this to myself,” he later said. “But I can’t do this to her.”

He cancelled the transfer. Linda’s response confirmed Jonathan’s worst fears: It was all a scam.

After Jonathan refused to send additional funds, Linda’s tone changed. The encouragement and trading guidance stopped almost immediately. Soon afterward, two large trades appeared on the Milky Way platform, each showing losses of about $100,000. Jonathan’s balance plummeted.

Jonathan never received another message from Linda.

In the weeks that followed, Jonathan filed a police report, submitted documentation to federal reporting systems, and spoke with Oregon’s Department of Financial Regulation.

Investigators confirmed that the scheme matched a common pattern known as pig butchering. In these scams, criminals build trust with victims over time and encourage increasingly large investments before disappearing with the funds.

Early profits are often simulated on fraudulent websites to create confidence. The victim sees convincing numbers on a screen, but the money is already gone.

Living with the Aftermath

Today, Jonathan considers himself fortunate in one important respect. The sale of Apple stock — worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — was never completed. Jonathan was fortunate that fraud teams at his financial institutions intervened. The fact is that many victims never receive that call.

Even so, the experience left a lasting impact on Jonathan. The memories surface unexpectedly. A message notification, a mention of cryptocurrency, or a conversation about investing can bring the experience rushing back.

His financial loss has been difficult, but the emotional aftermath has been harder. Sometimes, Jonathan says, he is still overwhelmed by shame

Jesse Ratner is a writer from San Francisco whose daughter was a recent victim of a bank scam. His novel, The Origins of Anxiety, is available on Kindle (and does not feature pig butchering).

Jonathan’s story shows how difficult it can be to disrupt these scams once they begin. Unlike other financial crises, there is often no obvious place to turn for help. Families can find support systems for addiction, gambling, or financial hardship, but resources for scam victims remain limited.

It’s why we’re grateful to Jonathan for sharing his story, and why we’re committed to raising awareness of stories like his.

At Operation Shamrock, our mission is to educate the public, mobilize collective action, and disrupt the operations networks of transnational organized criminals to prevent further harm.

Do you have a survivor story? Connect with our team to share your experience.