In his newest investigation, uploaded on 1 December 2025, Coffeezilla uncovers one of the most emotional and disturbing cases he has ever worked on. A 62-year-old quadriplegic woman was manipulated for nearly two years by a romance scammer impersonating Hallmark actor Tyler Hynes, draining over $15,000 in Bitcoin. Years earlier, she had been an active marathon runner and gymnast before an accident left her paralyzed, making online communities an important part of her daily life. After her death, her daughter reached out to Coffeezilla, determined to understand what happened and whether the scammer could be identified.
What followed was a rare, high-stakes digital manhunt where the hunter ultimately became the hunted: the scammer interacted with Coffeezilla’s verification trap, revealed his IP, activated his webcam, and even uploaded a full government ID, allowing a complete identification in a case that initially seemed impossible to solve.
The scam began when the victim joined a Facebook fan group for Hallmark actor Tyler Hynes, where impersonator accounts were already active. From there, the scammer contacted her through a fake “Hallmark management” email, claiming to offer paid backstage access to the actor through a licensing program. This email acted as the official-sounding gateway into the scam, making the setup appear structured and legitimate. To reinforce this, the scammer even had her sign a fake nondisclosure agreement (NDA), which discouraged her from telling anyone about their communication.
Once she was pulled into the “program,” the scammer switched identities and began impersonating Tyler Hynes directly. He used AI-generated photos and AI-generated audio to mimic the actor’s appearance and voice. Many of these images were hospital-themed because the victim frequently wrote about her own hospital stays, making the impersonation feel more personal and emotionally aligned with her situation.
The scammer also sent customized AI images with the victim’s name added, further deepening her belief that she was communicating privately with the real actor. By controlling both the supposed management contact and the fake celebrity persona, the scammer created a closed-loop illusion that felt official, intimate, and impossible for her to question.
The scammer then pressured her into a $500 monthly Bitcoin payment plan despite her disability income, refusing all attempts to negotiate lower fees. This inflexible structure mimicked a formal subscription arrangement, turning financial pressure into a long-term control mechanism.
Coffeezilla began by reviewing a carefully archived collection of emails, payments, and screenshots preserved by the victim’s daughter. These records documented nearly two years of communication, providing a clear timeline of how the scam progressed.
Bitcoin transaction hashes saved in the emails allowed partial tracing of the funds. The payments led to a deposit address on an offshore crypto exchange, which could not be pursued further without official investigative authority. This is common in crypto romance scams, where scammers rely on platforms positioned to avoid external scrutiny.
Telegram communication offered little additional information beyond the scammer’s handle and account ID. These limited identifiers showed why the case appeared unsolvable at first as there were few digital breadcrumbs that could directly reveal a real identity.
To execute the catfishing plan, Coffeezilla teamed up with KitBoga, a well-known scam-baiting YouTuber who specializes in tricking scammers into revealing themselves. KitBoga provided the custom tools needed for the trap, including a fake Bitcoin verification site and a human-verification portal designed to capture IP addresses and encourage scammers to activate their webcam. This collaboration gave Coffeezilla access to methods typically used in real-time scam-baiting investigations.
The website immediately recorded several IP addresses, including one in the U.S. and multiple in Nigeria. While IPs alone couldn’t identify the scammer, the logs verified that he engaged with the lure and kept the investigation on track. This confirmation established that the person using Telegram was the same person seeking the supposed payment.
KitBoga’s custom “human verification” portal pushed the scammer further through unusual CAPTCHA-like tasks before asking him to activate his webcam. To Coffeezilla’s surprise, the scammer complied and submitted clear video and photos of himself, marking the investigation’s first visual confirmation of the individual behind the scheme.
After obtaining video evidence, Coffeezilla escalated the plan by triggering a fake KYC (Know Your Customer) review on the scammer’s account. Believing he was close to receiving a large Bitcoin payout, the scammer uploaded a full government-issued ID through the verification portal. This gave Coffeezilla both a matching face and a name, creating a complete identification record.
With the scammer’s webcam footage and ID collected, Coffeezilla set up a phone confrontation by patching in the victim’s daughter under the role of a “vice president in charge of anti-scam prevention.” Speaking in an official capacity and not as herself, she confronted the scammer about his impersonation of Tyler Hynes and the $15,000 he extracted from a quadriplegic woman. The scammer denied responsibility, claimed to be “an agent,” and refused to explain who he allegedly worked for before abruptly ending the call.
Moments after the confrontation, the scammer deleted all Telegram messages and repeatedly called the victim’s phone, confirming that the same individual was behind both the account and the phone communication.
Coffeezilla ended the investigation by forwarding all evidence, including video, IP logs, and the ID, to law enforcement. The case resulted in a full identification of a romance scammer, a rare outcome in crypto-related fraud, and showed how targeted digital manipulation can exploit vulnerable individuals who rely heavily on online communication.
** For more deep-dive reports on crypto fraud, deception, and due-diligence findings, explore our full collection of investigations.
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