Cybercrime Victim Gets Life Back on Track
An elderly man, a victim of cybercrime, can finally breathe a little easier after investigators transformed his circumstances.
Janet Voss, 71, from Bennington, Vermont, shared that she became overly concerned about her finances when a cyber scammer took away $950,000 of her life savings nearly four years ago. This incident led her to become quite frugal, managing her trips in the car meticulously, unplugging appliances, and obsessively checking her bank balance just to make ends meet, according to NHPR.
With the scam taking such a toll, Voss was left living off Social Security and relying on food stamps. It was a stark contrast to her retirement plans, and she felt hopeless, even becoming quite down, especially as visiting out-of-state family was financially out of reach.
The FBI highlighted this troubling trend in elder fraud cases in 2025, explaining that many scammers specifically target older adults, taking advantage of their vulnerabilities.
The FBI stated, “We continue to work with local, state, tribal, and federal partners to confront elder fraud and protect the older communities.” But everything changed for Voss once she learned that the U.S. Secret Service was investigating her case, along with others like it.
Investigators discovered that $648,000 of her stolen funds were tied to a cryptocurrency account linked to an individual involved in an international scam. After seizing the digital wallet, government officials managed to sell the tokens, ultimately returning $1.033 million—every penny plus interest—back to her and more than 20 other victims, as reported by NHPR.
The U.S. Secret Service recently highlighted the incident in a social media update.
Voss expressed her disbelief when she saw the funds appear in her bank account just before Christmas. Now, she’s making plans to visit family in California. Also, she decided to spend some of her newly found money on feeding local animals that had been a source of comfort during her hard times.
“I bought raw peanuts in their shells for the squirrels. Honestly, for me, that was quite a celebration. They didn’t really need anything fancy,” she elaborated.
As noted by the U.S. Secret Service, all sorts of financial frauds target seniors, and they are actively collaborating with local and federal authorities to investigate these crimes.
