Alright, let's get one thing straight off the bat: I'm seeing headlines about this Maine couple getting scammed out of $1.3 million in Bitcoin, and everyone's acting shocked? Please. Shocked that it happened, not that it could happen. Let's be real, we're all just a slightly more sophisticated phishing email away from financial ruin.
So, Larry and Barbara Cook, bless their hearts, get rinsed for their entire retirement savings. The hook? Good old-fashioned government impersonation. Scammers posing as FTC agents, spinning yarns about dark web conspiracies and money laundering. They even forged letters from Janet Yellen. Janet freakin' Yellen! I mean, come on.
But here's the thing. It's not just about their gullibility. It's about the entire system that enables this garbage. Unregulated Bitcoin ATMs lurking in gas stations? Please. Banks turning a blind eye to massive cash withdrawals? TD Bank got fined $1.8 billion for failing to maintain an anti-money laundering program, which tells you everything you need to know. It's all connected, folks. A perfect storm of naivete, greed, and regulatory failure.
And the patience of these scammers! Seven months? Talking to these poor folks daily? It's almost impressive, in a depraved, soul-crushing kind of way. They even "liked Ryan," the scammer. "He was so nice," Larry Cook said. That's how you know the world's gone completely sideways.
The article points out the Cooks are just "too nice." Larry's old bosses even said so. He wanted to help people, always. He even ran orphanages in Kenya. And that's the vulnerability, isn't it? These scammers prey on the good intentions, the inherent trust, the desire to do something. They weaponize empathy.
It's like that old saying about no good deed going unpunished. Only in this case, the punishment is losing your entire life savings.
I mean, what's the alternative? To become a cynical, paranoid hermit who trusts no one? Maybe that's the only way to survive in this digital dystopia.
Wait, hold on. Kenya's Kids...that reminds me of this non-profit I donated to last year. Never got a receipt. Now I'm starting to sweat...
Then there's the final kick in the teeth: Social Security wants to deduct $1,000 a month from their benefits to cover Medicare/Medicaid underpayments caused by the scam! You lose over a million dollars to fraud, and the government's response is to nickel-and-dime you into oblivion. Give me a break.
The IRS at least relented after Senator Collins got involved, but Social Security? Nope. "The law never imagined fraud like this," Larry Cook said. As reported by the How a Maine couple gave their $1.3M retirement savings to bitcoin scammers, the couple lost their entire retirement savings.
Yeah, well, the law's a joke. It's designed to protect the powerful, not the vulnerable. It's easier to bail out banks than to help a couple who got conned out of their retirement. Offcourse, what do I know?
Extreme Greed: The Market's Slipping Reality
2025-12-05
