Tinder man scams woman out of $8 million left to her by murdered dad

A 25-year-old woman from Texas has claimed that a man she met on Tinder has scammed her out of the fortune left to her by her murdered father.

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Divya Gadasalli has told Bloomberg that she received $8 million from her mother's estate following her father's murder in 2015. Gadasalli told the publication that she had fallen victim to a scam called "pig butchering", which involves a scammer emotionally manipulating victims into investing in cryptocurrency projects, the scammer showing the investment is gaining profits, then advises more money should be invested, then the project's account is locked away from the investor or drained entirely.

Gadasalli met Jerry Bulasa on Tinder, and began talking to him for several months. Throughout that time, Bulasa touted to Gadasalli that he was making lots of money through cryptocurrency investments, which Gadasalli said coincides with a time in her life when she was craving financial independence. Gadasalli said to Bloomberg that Bulasa told her she could become a financial hero to her family.

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Supposedly Jerry Bulasa. Taken from his Facebook page.

Within the same month of meeting online, Gadasalli transferred $10,000 to a bank account controlled by Dong Lian. A few days later, she transferred $86,000, followed by $100,000, to another bank account under the Dong Lian name. Furthermore, Gadasalli transferred $200,000 to a bank account owned by Danyun Lin. Notably, Gadasalli's suit claims that both Lian and Lin may be the same person.

Gadasalli says that once her investments were made, she was able to withdraw her profits in real cash, which made her think that the investments were authentic. She said she was able to withdraw approximately $30,000 a month.

"There was proof in the beginning that the money I was putting in, I got real money out. I could see it in my Chase bank account. It was real just until it wasn't."

Following the profits, Gadasalli then invested a lot more money into a crypto brokerage called "Digital Fund" that would pay dividends based on the investments. Gadasalli first put $3 million in Tether into a wallet address linked to the Digital Fund, and then another $6 million. Initially, the total grew to $10 million, and Gadasalli was able to withdraw about $60,000 and $70,000 in cash per month.

Then things got suspicious. Digital Fund said that Gadasalli was required to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in "taxes", and provided many reasons why she wasn't able to access her profits. After preparing with lawyers, she texted Bulsa on What's App to inform him he was being sued, "He was, like, 'LOL,' and then he deactivated his WhatsApp," she said.

Gadasalli is still attempting to sue Bulasa and his two accomplices, as well as Binance and Poloniex cryptocurrency exchanges.