After Alice Lin’s husband died, she found comfort in an online friendship with a man who said he had also lost his spouse.
Instead, she was scammed out of much of the $720,000 she and her husband had saved over their lifetimes.
Alice Lin, center, who fought back to recover some of the $720,000 she and her late husband had saved over their lifetime which was stolen by an online scammer, rests for a moment while working in her rose garden, Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Alhambra, Calif. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
The man, who called himself Justin, convinced Lin to withdraw money from her bank accounts and invest it through cryptocurrency platforms. At first, her statements showed big gains. Then he encouraged her to invest even more, including by asking her daughter for a loan.
That’s when Lin’s family realized something was wrong.
An investigation by The Associated Press and PBS/FRONTLINE found that Lin, now 83, was the only one of 58 scam victims interviewed who recovered some of her money. She sued JPMorgan Chase, arguing the bank should have recognized the unusually large transfers from her accounts.
The case was settled earlier this year for an undisclosed amount, according to her lawyers.
JPMorgan Chase said it has multiple scam protections, including bankers who questioned Lin about her transactions and written warnings. The bank said settling the case was a business decision based on the cost of litigation.
The scam took an emotional toll on Lin. She was grieving her husband and felt ashamed that she had been deceived. At one point, she thought about taking her own life.
Then she received a message from the scammer long after she had stopped responding.
“Are you still alive?”
The message changed how she saw the situation.
“I told myself, ‘I’m alive and I’m going to fight back.’”
Lin had been targeted by a sophisticated criminal network that operated dozens of scams. Blockchain analysis conducted by TRM Labs for AP and PBS/FRONTLINE found the network took in at least $800 million between January 2022 and September 2024.
Lin’s settlement was unusual. In the investigation, she was the only victim interviewed who recovered money from a financial institution.
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