Bitcoin adviser reports client lost retirement savings after a romance scam using AI photos
BitDegree reports an account by Bitcoin adviser Terence Michael about a client who transferred his retirement savings to someone posing as a trader and romantic partner. Michael reportedly tried to stop the transfers and said the scammer later admitted using AI-generated photos. The client also bought a plane ticket. The original social post could not be read directly, and the client's identity, location and first event date are unknown. A later explanatory article's detailed live-deepfake claims are not independently established.
- AI system
- Unidentified image tool
- Unknown
- Occurred
- Event date unknown
- Reported
- 15 December 2025
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Communicated with the person
- Reported harm
- Financial Loss
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Finance · Relationships
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
- 3 claims: 3 reported. 2 open questions
- People reported harmed
- At least 1 person
AI system as recorded: Reported AI-generated romantic persona photos
What Happened
BitDegree reports an account by Bitcoin adviser Terence Michael about a client who transferred his retirement savings to someone posing as a trader and romantic partner. Michael reportedly tried to stop the transfers and said the scammer later admitted using AI-generated photos. The client also bought a plane ticket. The original social post could not be read directly, and the client's identity, location and first event date are unknown. A later explanatory article's detailed live-deepfake claims are not independently established.
Reported harm
Adviser-reported loss of a client's Bitcoin retirement savings
What remains unknown
- The client's first contact date, location, generation tool and verified loss amount are unknown.
- The full original post and payment records were not inspected.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The case-specific AI evidence is a reported scammer admission relayed by an adviser and journalism. The original post and images were not inspected. Generic live-video capabilities in the later Cointelegraph article are not proof of this case's method.
3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported BitDegree relays the adviser's statement that the scammer admitted using AI-created photos during the relationship.
Causal attribution. The inspected reporting describes this account. Claims remain attributed and causation is alleged; multiple reports of the same victim or police/court account are one independence group.
- bitdegree.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
Article body: adviser's account of the scammer's admission after transfer.
Reported The adviser reported that his client transferred all his Bitcoin retirement savings despite warnings; the report also describes a plane ticket purchase.
Causal attribution. The inspected reporting describes this account. Claims remain attributed and causation is alleged; multiple reports of the same victim or police/court account are one independence group.
- bitdegree.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
Article body: client transfer, adviser warnings and plane ticket paragraphs.
Reported The source identifies the adviser's social post as the original account.
Causal attribution. The inspected reporting describes this account. Claims remain attributed and causation is alleged; multiple reports of the same victim or police/court account are one independence group.
- bitdegree.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
Article body: original Terence Michael account attribution.
Sources
2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- BitDegree, updated 15 December 2025, relay of adviser account(opens in new tab)
s1 · bitdegree.org · Journalistic · English · Inspected · 15 December 2025 · Shares an underlying account with another listed source · Primary
- journalistic supporting source(opens in new tab)
s2 · tradingview.com · Journalistic · English · Inspected · Shares an underlying account with another listed source
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.
The inspected case account does not establish where the client or scammer lived. Countries remain unknown.
Reviewed for publication 2026-09-30: An inspected source describes a concrete person-level adverse experience connected to the specified AI use. Statements remain attributed, private identities are minimized, and unknown dates, counts and technical details are preserved.
People reported harmed in this case
At least 1 person
0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed
One adviser's client is described as losing his own funds. The adviser and unrelated linked victims are not counted.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Bitcoin adviser reports client lost retirement savings after a romance scam using AI photos. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-adviser-reports-client-ai-romance-photo-bitcoin-loss
BibTeX
@misc{2025_adviser_reports_client_ai_romance_photo_bitcoin_loss,
title = {Bitcoin adviser reports client lost retirement savings after a romance scam using AI photos},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-adviser-reports-client-ai-romance-photo-bitcoin-loss}
} Related cases
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