A couple of years ago, London banker Varun Yadav downloaded several dating apps, hoping to meet his life partner.
On Indian matrimonial site Jeevansathi, meaning “life partner” in Hindi, he started talking to a woman who said her name was Rekha Shah.
After months of talking on WhatsApp and video calls, she asked him if he would invest in crypto trading with her – a decision which caused him to lose his life savings and left him feeling suicidal.
“You see all the signs, but you are so emotionally attached. You are willing to lose the money, but you are not willing to lose the connection,” he told BBC Radio London.