The Fitbit friendship that turned into a financial nightmare
Sarah* thought she had made a genuine connection when Charles started messaging her through her Fitbit app in early 2020. What began as friendly exchanges about step counts quickly escalated into one of the most sophisticated cyber scams security experts have seen.
The American woman received regular 2am messages from someone claiming to be a father from Atlanta working on an oil rig off Ireland's coast. After moving their conversations to Google Hangouts, Charles spun an elaborate tale about needing Sarah's help accessing money a colleague had repaid him.
"Since he was divorced, mum was deceased, no relationship to dad and his daughter was young, he asked me to accept it," Sarah told Metro. "And so, the nightmare began."
How the scam unfolded
The fraudster claimed the repaid cash was held in a security box with a US company that needed to be posted to Sarah since Charles was working abroad. The requests for money started small - $3,600 (£2,700) for shipping fees - then ballooned to demands for documents costing $25,000 (£19,000).
"I got a loan with the promise of payback from the box once I got it," Sarah explained. "Then another document was needed. You guessed it, no one had it, it would cost $60,000. I didn't send that kind of money, but the security company lowered it and I sent more."
Over several months, Sarah transferred $64,883 (£49,786) to the scammer before realising she was being manipulated. The turning point came when Charles 'admitted' the box money came from illegal drilling in Russian waters.
The alarming scale of phone scams
Sarah's experience reflects a growing crisis affecting British phone users. According to a MalwarebytesLab survey of 1,300 people across the UK, US, Austria, Germany and Switzerland:
- One in five phone users have fallen for a cyber scam
- Criminals have attempted to extort one in three phone users
- One in six have been targeted by sextortion scams
- One in five nearly fell victim to cyber kidnapping using voice-cloning technology
Shahak Shalev, global head of scam at Malwarebytes, attributes this surge to artificial intelligence. "Hollywood-level deception tools that once required technical expertise are now available to any scammer with a smartphone," she told Metro.
The research reveals disturbing statistics about AI-driven scam victims:
- 32% suffered reputation damage
- 24% had personal information stolen
- 21% had financial accounts opened in their name
Living with the consequences
Even after cutting ties with 'Charles', Sarah's ordeal continued. The scammer began threatening her, at one point claiming Russian hit men would target her son's wedding if she didn't pay $2,500.
She spent years sending $1,000 monthly to debt collectors while working for delivery app DoorDash. To finally escape the debt, Sarah withdrew money from her retirement account, costing her $26,000 in settlement money and federal taxes.
"I have to live for today and not worry about 10 years down the road when I am eligible to retire," she said.
Despite reporting the incident to police, the harassment continues. 'Charles' still emails Sarah, including photographs of her daughter, with messages like: "You will cry for help but no one will rescue you when I come after you... Let's see how all this ends."
The experience has fundamentally changed how Sarah approaches online interactions. Her social media accounts are now private, and she no longer accepts friend requests from strangers.
"Has this experience made me wary of people?" Sarah reflected. "Yes, a thousand times, yes."
Google, which owns Fitbit, declined to comment when approached by Metro, directing inquiries to its support page about avoiding and reporting scams.
