When Craig Wilkinson responded to a Facebook ad from what seemed to be a legitimate investment firm, he believed it would help him build a nest egg for his family.
But now the disabled U.S. veteran is on a mission to warn Americans about cyber-fraud red flags after losing more than $170,000 to online scammers.
“When I was younger, I figured the V.A. was gonna take care of me. I’m doing fine like that. But then having three kids with my wife, I started thinking that I should have something for the future,” Wilkinson told ABC News.
Wilkinson is one of the increasing number of people who have fallen prey to sophisticated investment scams, in which charlatans gain victims’ trust by posing as friendly, reputable financial advisers.
Investment scams that started on social media accounted for roughly half of the $2.1 billion lost to financial fraud in the U.S. in 2025, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Online scamming is now a complex and thriving global industry, ranging from “pig-butchering” romance scams that begin on dating apps to fake cryptocurrency investment schemes.
The practice has been supercharged by the rise of generative AI, which allow scammers to keep up personalized dialogues with far more victims at lower cost.
ABC did not say what branch Wilkinson had served in, but one segment shows him wearing what appears to be the patch of a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman.
Wilkinson told ABC that he had originally responded to an ad that appeared to be from a legitimate financial firm he had previously researched. But the ad was actually fraudulent.
That ad may actually have been targeted at Wilkinson based on his personal data, just as legitimate companies use Facebook’s all-seeing advertising apparatus to find likely customers.
“Social media gives scammers the edge,” FTC senior data analyst Emma Fletcher told ABC News. “They can target people based on their personal details, their interests, their shopping habits.
“The scams today seem much less scripted in many cases, and more dynamic and customized to the individual that’s being targeted.”
The fake ad led Wilkinson to a financial advice WhatsApp group where he was matched with a ‘mentor’ named Emily. It purported to help members become better investors, giving regular stock market updates and educational classes.
‘Emily’ seemed to make an effort to get to know Wilkinson and build his trust, with “questions to get to know you” or “how’s your mom doing?”
