A Connecticut woman is sharing her personal story of an online dating scam that cost her nearly one million dollars in the hopes of warning others about the dangers of sharing personal information online. Jackie Crenshaw said she met Brandon Miller in 2003. Although she had been working long hours as a senior manager at a breast imaging clinic at Yale New Haven Hospital and saving for her retirement, she was worried that she wouldn’t have anyone to share her golden years with.
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After a friend’s suggestion, she decided to give online dating a try and created a profile on a Black dating site. As she searched the available bachelors, Crenshaw said she was drawn to Brandon Millier and decided to slide into his DMs to compliment his eyes. Crenshaw said the two started messaging regularly, and before long, they were sharing their feelings, and Miller, who told her he was a widower with two young sons, started sending dinners to her home.
“You know how that made me feel. This person really cares about me because I don’t have to come home and cook after a long day,” she told AARP.
The gifts didn’t stop at food. Crenshaw said her online boo sent various trinkets, including a locket necklace with their pictures side by side. All of the attention made Crenshaw believe she’d found a potential life partner. A few months after they started communicating, Miller suggested Crenshaw start investing in crypto, telling her that he had become an expert during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“[He wasn’t] pushy at first, just kind of, ‘Do you know about it?’” she said.
Convinced it was a good idea, Crenshaw borrowed $40,000 from her 401K, which was sent to Bitcoin via wire transfer. She said she started receiving statements from Coinclusta, which she was told was an online account that would hold her Bitcoin and the profits she earned.
In August 2023, Crenshaw received a check for $100,000, which Miller told her they would use as an “investment for their future.” Cautiously excited, Crenshaw questioned a woman’s name on the check, which Miller explained was someone who owed him for construction work.
“It was always like he was a step ahead,” she said.
Not convinced that his story was legit, Crenshaw went to the police, who initially blew off her concerns. She then took the check to the bank and was surprised when it cleared.
Looking at her Coinclusta statements, Crenshaw thought she’d earned more than $1 million and was planning a future with her new love. All of that changed in June 2024, when local police told her they’d received a tip that she was a victim of an online scam. Crenshaw soon learned that Brondon Miller, his children and her Coinclusta account were all fake. The woman whose name was on the $100,000 check was another woman who was also being scammed by Miller.
In the end, Jackie Crenshaw lost more than $900,000 as a result of Miller’s scam and owes $59,000 in federal and state taxes on the money she withdrew from her retirement account. According to AARP, an investigation into her case is still ongoing. Meanwhile, Crenshaw hopes that by sharing her story, she can warn others about the dangers of online financial scams.
“I hope to only go forward and just keep telling myself, ‘I am a victim. I did nothing wrong,” she said.
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