A woman from Saipan has been sentenced to 71 months in prison for committing a Bitcoin scam targeting the elderly.

CoinFeed reported on April 28 that, according to The Block, a U.S. federal court sentenced a Saipan woman to 71 months in prison for running a Bitcoin-related fraud scheme. Sze Man Yu Inos (aka Yuki), 30, targeted elderly women in Saipan and Guam between November 2020 and January 2022, falsely claiming to be from a wealthy Chinese family and successful through Bitcoin investments. She gained trust by building emotional connections with her victims, then solicited funds under the pretense of Bitcoin investment, subsequently expanding the scam to Washington and California. The court also ordered her to pay $769,355 in restitution and $684,848 in forfeiture. FBI data shows that cryptocurrency-related fraud losses reached a record $11.3 billion last year, accounting for more than half of all internet crime losses.