NEW YORK — The IRS Criminal Investigation New York Field Office is investigating a WhatsApp-based cryptocurrency scheme that took nearly $300,000 from Kyle Holder, a former occupational therapist who had saved the money in retirement and savings accounts over decades. The funds disappeared in under three months after Holder began communicating with someone using the name Niamh.

The first message arrived around Christmas 2024 through WhatsApp, a messaging app Holder used to communicate with family and friends in the United States, Canada and Israel. Holder responded to a message about investing from home and asked for more information. Niamh replied, began asking about her life, and coached her on opening two cryptocurrency wallets online.

After Holder transferred a small sum to a cryptocurrency account tied to the scammer, thousands of dollars appeared in her crypto wallet. Niamh assured her that the team she worked with would pay taxes on the funds they earned together. Holder went on to send nearly $300,000 to fourteen different cryptocurrency wallets tied to the scammers. Two months into the exchange, no funds had come back into her wallets.

"Please assure me this is not a scam. I'm getting worried." Holder wrote to Niamh. The reply: "You have made a fatal mistake." Holder later described the toll. "I wanted to have something to leave to my children but there's nothing left," she said.

After the case was referred to the IRS Criminal Investigation New York Field Office, investigators traced cryptocurrency from the fourteen wallets into five new wallets used to make tracing harder, then to a cryptocurrency exchange where it was converted out. Criminals consolidated Holder's funds with those of other victims before off-ramping more than $5 million.

Harry Chavis, special agent in charge, described how perpetrators target victims. "You could go here and they would sell potential lists of people who were prior victims. There's other data that has been scraped or pulled through hacks or leaks that can be sold for criminals to obtain. And then they're using these dark AI tools to write scripts to literally go specifically to the victim," he said. "They could be anywhere in the world."

The IRS Criminal Division has set up an online tip line for cases like Holder's. "Do not be ashamed. These are highly sophisticated scams and anyone can be a victim," Chavis said. He urged recipients of unexpected messages to slow down. "Oftentimes, if you feel like you're getting a communication from an entity, verify with that entity that they're actually communicating with you before you just click or take the bait of what's coming in that communication," he said.

According to the FBI, thousands of Americans were swindled through cyber theft in 2025, with losses estimated at $20 billion, more than half of that in cryptocurrency.