I verified an ex-cop’s claim that he’d been scammed out of his savings by a crypto investment opportunity suggested by a woman he met online – it was true, and he wasn’t alone.

When pig-butchering scams were new, this piece was the first in national media to explore the exact mechanics of how scammers steal their victims’ cryptocurrency – in this case, a bizarre cryptocurrency account access akin to a power of attorney that wasn’t properly disclosed by a cryptocurrency wallet app. Because I had identified a particular “on-chain” marker of this scam, I was able to create an exclusive, early estimate of the number of victims and total up their losses.