Marcel Deschamps was on the edge of despair.
The factory foreman from Alexandria, Ont., a small community between Ottawa and Montreal, had lost his savings in a crypto investment scam. He had reported it to the Ontario Provincial Police, but investigators hit a wall.
Beset by suicidal thoughts, Deschamps clung to the hope that someone could help him recover his funds.
Then, in February 2024, someone presenting themselves as a cryptocurrency expert named Mary Roberts reached Deschamps by phone, told him she had found the scammers who took his $200,000 and assured him she could get it back.
She told Deschamps he was on a watchlist because he’d given money to fraudsters and would need to transfer $3,500 into a crypto wallet to prove he was a legitimate investor. She promised “it’s 110 per cent that I’m going to find that money and I’m going to send it to you.”
In reality, “Mary Roberts” was yet another scammer, …