My Dad Was Scammed to Death: A Cautionary Tale

Ever since my father passed away in July 2023, I’ve often said, “My dad was literally scammed to death.” It’s a painful truth, and one I feel compelled to share—not just to honor his memory, but to warn others about the dangers lurking online.

My dad’s ordeal began with an entity he knew as “Anne.” Whether Anne was a real person or an AI-driven scammer, I’ll never know. Their relationship was entirely digital, mostly through text messages. Dad claimed he’d heard her voice, but as far as I can tell, it was just a recording. There was never a genuine, voice-to-voice conversation.

This online relationship lasted at least four years, possibly six, beginning while my mom was still alive and battling dementia. During those years, my dad—who had a history of seeking relationships outside his marriage—spent countless hours chatting online, often exchanging intimate photos and always hoping to meet the person on the other side.

But Anne was different. She convinced my dad she loved him and wanted to marry him. She promised him riches—over a million dollars—if he invested in her “super BITCOIN agent.” Dad sent her between $100,000 and $200,000, money he borrowed from friends and family, believing he’d pay them back once his windfall arrived.

Anne’s stories were always dramatic. She was supposedly assaulted in Mexico and needed money for hospital bills. She was quarantined in Florida after a COVID scare and needed cash for a hotel. She was arrested in New York after someone allegedly planted drugs in her bag, and only a bribe could clear her name. Each crisis required more money, and despite my efforts to prove these scenarios were impossible, Dad remained convinced.

After my mom passed away and Dad’s house burned down in 2022, he moved in with us. The stress of his situation affected our whole family—I developed stomach ulcers, and my wife struggled with anxiety and sleeplessness. Eventually, I had to ask Dad to leave, one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made.

He ended up living out of my brother’s truck in Greenville, Illinois, alienated from friends and family who knew he was being scammed. Desperate to bring his “fiancée” and his supposed millions home, Dad gave all his Social Security and retirement checks to Anne, neglecting his own health. He stopped buying insulin for his diabetes and barely ate.

During Christmas 2023, we invited Dad to stay with us. He complained about pain in his heel, which eventually developed into a severe sore. He was hospitalized and transferred to a rehabilitation center, but by then, his body was failing. He refused dialysis and stopped eating, the cumulative result of untreated diabetes, living in a truck, and relentless financial exploitation.

In the end, I believe Dad gave up because he finally realized the truth: he’d been scammed. His wife was gone, his house was gone, his friends were gone, and he had nothing left to live for.