He did not invest in cryptocurrency at all. He sent money to a website that told him that he was getting a return on an investment. It wasn’t all his money. This guy thinks he runs an “investment firm.”

ANTIOCH, Calif. (KGO) — Investors fear they may have been conned out of hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars from a high-stakes deal introduced to them by attractive women.

The Federal Trade Commission says it’s seen an uptick of complaints involving romance and cryptocurrency.

Kevin Sam, of Antioch, met a woman online in February who reached out suddenly via a direct message.

“She was very kind. Still to this day, she’s kind of empathetic,” Sam told 7 On Your Side.

He says their online relationship grew, but they still have not met in person.

Sam remembers her mentioning an investment opportunity in cryptocurrency on Feb. 10.

“Open the wallet and enter the mining pool,” she wrote, urging Sam to invest with the site called defi-base.com.

He did just that and he says it immediately paid off.

“Originally, it started at $2,000. Then it went up to $5,000 almost a week later,” he said.

So he invested more money.

“At $50,000, I was making $1,000 a day,” said Sam.

He even borrowed $100,000 for his mother to invest.

But he says when he tried to cash out on some of his investments, he ran into problems.

“You are participating in the 7-day 100,000 USDT gift on the mining pool. Cannot withdraw during the pledge period,” the company told him.

Bay Area man loses $380K investing in cryptocurrency suggested by woman he met online (7-News)