When a Crypto scammer tried to trick me: A review of Their Tactless Tactics

This story isn’t about crypto. It’s about Isabelle, the mysterious girl from Japan who “accidentally” messaged me one afternoon, wanting to chat about life in London.

I knew what was going on from the start. I’ve gotten messages like this before — usually, I block them and move on. But this time, I decided to lean in, play dumb, and see how far the rabbit hole went.

I’ve included snippets of our conversation via chat widgets.

Isabelle

Elena, it's Isabelle

I'm not Elena

Sorry, I reply late, I found that this is the wrong number, I have successfully contacted Elena, I hope not to disturb you, I am very sorry.

No worries :)

Oops, Wrong Number (But Let’s Trauma-Bond Anyway)

By replying, I’d already been marked as potential prey. In this stage, they follow a script full of flattery, meant to hook you in and keep you curious.

Isabelle

Thank you, you are a very polite person, I am Isabelle, if you don't mind, can I know your name?

I'm Henry

Although I added the wrong number, I am very happy to meet you. I'm a private fashion designer, I run my own studio, what do you do? I am 34 years old, and you?

Sold my car mechanic company a few years ago, so currently traveling a lot and enjoying fine dining. What does a private fashion designer do?

Obviously, I didn’t want to reveal my real identity, so I invented Henry on the spot. Why not make him a rich traveller? It gave me an excuse to not reply for a few days when I didn’t feel like it.

Henry turned out to be an interesting guy, so they gave me a number to another account. They often do this in case the first account gets flagged as spam.

I hesitated, but once I confirmed Signal wouldn’t reveal my phone number, I figured, why not see how long they’d keep chatting before revealing their scam plot?

Isabelle

Since this is my assistant's and my work phone, we use it together, maybe you can add my private number so we can keep in touch. I also think you would like to share your story with me, right?

0044xxxxxxxxx this is my private number for Signal.

I look forward to your reply

New Account, Who Dis?

Isabelle

hi

Hi, my friend, I need your name

My name is Isabelle

Henry

Henry, you just said you were flying.

Where is your next city?

First to Brussels 2 days for business then almost 3 weeks in Australia to visit family

Did you travel alone?

Brussels is Belgium

Thank you, Isabelle, for confirming that Brussels is indeed in Belgium.

The conversation carried on, full of flowery praise and empty summaries of whatever I had just said — like ChatGPT beta-testing itself in 2016. They were clearly trying to build trust by parroting my interests.

At this point I shared my intentions with my wife, in case she saw my phone light up with these semi-flirty weird chats.

Isabelle

Why did you move to London?

Because Japan is a place that is a bit patriarchal, I have a younger brother, and the whole family is not very friendly to me. London is the political, economic and cultural center of the UK and one of the most important cities in the world. So I choose to study and live here.

yes ok

I also like traveling very much. I seem to be looking for a different self in the process of traveling. I like to know the local culture and taste delicious food.

I have also been to some cities, Canada, China, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Italy, all have traces of my travel.

I mostly made up Henry’s life as I went along, worried I’d contradict myself and blow my cover. No need to worry though — I could probably have said I was a time-traveling teenager driving a DeLorean, and they’d still call me “a very mature and wise man”

The chat revolved around travel, “finding yourself,” and goals in life. They were weirdly obsessed with me sending photos — probably to help build rapport, or just to build a profile. I ignored it.

Isabelle

It seems that we will have many common topics and ideas. lol

Haha, yes, small world. lol.

I'm looking forward to your photos

ok, lol

Hinting about money, lifestyle and future goals

Eventually, they dropped the first hint about having extra income. Very subtle…

Isabelle

Oh, it seems that you are a person with lofty ideals. From your decision to take this step, you show your own courage. I think this is very attractive

thank you

I came to Europe to develop my career. London is a very expensive city. It is also very difficult to stand here. At present, I have two incomes in London, which makes me survive in this city very well. My current career is just like my hobbies. I feel more motivated to do what I like.

I knew they wanted me to ask about the second income, but I held back. Still, they pivoted hard into “financial freedom” mode and flattery. Here’s a truly bizarre back-and-forth that is… cringe.

Isabelle

Under what circumstances would you buy a gift for yourself?

I do that all the time. If I want something and can afford it I buy it.

Sounds like you are someone who knows how to enjoy life! Being able to invest in something you love without hesitation is an attitude that is really appreciated. You are not only aware of your needs, but you can also balance your desires and practical abilities. This wisdom is admirable.

Haha, well that's flattering but a bit of a stretch!

Haha, that's because when I face my favorite items, I will definitely buy them. If they are too expensive, I will try my best to make money. That's why I admire you as a sensible person.

What is your weirdest or funniest impulse purchase?

When it comes to impulse buying, I did have a very interesting experience! I once bought a retro-style manual coffee grinder and was completely attracted by its design and sentiment.

Crypto 101 in broken English

The grammar fluctuated wildly — some messages read like they were written by a lifestyle blogger, others like they were auto-translated by a hungover intern.

Isabelle

But when I travel, I always pay attention to my investment information. Because this is my main source of income

You do that yourself?

Some do it themselves. Some of it was done with my uncle, but most of it was done with them. Because they have a strong team. May operate 1-3 times a week

Try reading that last line in the voice of a certain orange president. Makes more sense somehow.

They sent me long, very confident explanations of crypto, banks, and how you can earn 10% interest per day.

I decided to flatter their expertise a little, just to see how they’d react - which was hilarious, considering Isabelle is supposed to be a fashion designer, not the director of a hedge fund.

Isabelle

Sounds like you know a lot about this! Where did you learn? Isn't it super complicated?

In fact, I have been in the investment field for 5 years. I have invested in real estate, stocks, futures, gold, cryptocurrencies, and a small number of physical investments. During my time in this field, I have also met many professional friends, and I have also learned a lot.

The main thing is to see if the investor's way is right. Choose the right way and follow the changes in the market to make decisions.

Finally, the link drop

I probably could have gotten the link much earlier, but the link was not my only goal. I was interested in how they operated and how much effort they were willing to put in.

They eventually sent me the link when I pretended to be interested in investing on a legit site. The url I received had a unique subdomain not included here. Maybe to track me as a visitor. Maybe it’s a SaaS platform: Scamming as a Service. Who knows?

Isabelle

What trading platform is the best?

If you start with the safest way to invest, which is what I said to you, crypto cloud mining, then the best platform is ICE

This one? https://ice.io

This is ICE's fast trading platform. It is not a professional cloud computing mining platform. I will share it with you. You can understand.

https://intercontinentals.world

After this I kind of let the conversation die out. “Henry” got sick for a week, meaning I forgot about the chat for a few days and had to come up with an excuse.

They threatened to delete me to “clean up her contacts”. That’s terribly rude, Isabelle. After everything we’ve shared? That’s toxic behaviour! Let’s break up…

A few more absurd chat excerpts

There are countless more messages than I have presented in the examples in this blog post. Very few are relevant to the scam process, but here a a couple more fun ones…

Isabelle

I like French Faldo wine

Hmm, haven't tried it.

Suitable for weight loss, each liter of dry wine contains 525 calories, which is completely consumed within 4 hours; women drink red wine to prevent breast cancer and anti aging.

Can wine prevent breast cancer?

Yes, it has this tiny function, which is scientifically studied.

If this were true, we’d see a spike in French Faldo wine sales all over the world.

Isabelle

I understand parts of it

Every study needs a mentor. I meet you is fate. I am sincere to you. I think we are fate. I think you are a good man. I should teach you my knowledge and wealth. No one is smart at the beginning. They all let themselves know more through continuous learning. Learning is a lifetime thing. Once people stop learning, it will make us degenerate.

Wow, I sure don’t want to end up degenerate.

Final notes

To me the whole conversation was so full of red flags it looked like a Soviet-themed amusement park, but I understand why people will fall for their tactics. They follow a playbook where the script is meant to appeal to our human traits

• They have a (kind of) legit reason for accidentally contacting you
• They praise you constantly and shower you with compliments
• They mirror your interests and pretend to build genuine rapport
• The investment opportunity is hinted at gradually — they want you to bring it up organically
• The whole conversation has noticeable shifts in personality, tone, and grammar — like it’s written by a committee of bots in rotating shifts

So, if someone “accidentally” messages you and starts telling you how wise and handsome you are — congrats, you can now recognize it and cosplay being scammed.