Scams are getting more and more convincing, and a certain demographic – parents and grandparents – is especially vulnerable.

In today’s story, a daughter shares how her mom is being scammed by a crypto scam and has lost over $1,500,000 but still thinks it’s a legit opportunity.

She’s wondering if she’s in the wrong for not allowing her mom to withdraw from her 401k.

Let’s read the whole story and the comments.

AITA for not allowing my Mom to withdraw from her 401k after she’s been scammed for over $1,000,000.

Mom (58F) Me (20M).

Background: My mother has sent over $1,500,000 through crypto over the past 6 months through an online task scam.

She has claimed every step of the way that “This is the last step, I swear!”

That’s what they want her to think.

Then something pops up where she had no choice but to put more money in to retrieve all her money & more.

She refuses to believe it’s a scam and still has 100% confidence that it is real.

She needs to send them $30,000 within 2 weeks and have no way of obtaining this money besides withdrawing from her 401k.

But she disagrees, for good reasons.

She has already morgaged her cars, borrowed against her life insurance, and taken out loans against her house.

From what I know, the only assets she has left is her retirement (401k) & her house (small fraction of the total value).

She won’t be able to sell her house within 2 weeks so she wants to withdraw from her 401k. Since she is not 59 1/2, she cannot withdraw from her 401k.

So her mom needs her help to do that.

She wants to do a hardship 401k withdraw under Tuition (States she is using the funds to pay for my college Tuition) and then sent that to the scammers.

I believe she would need to pay tax on it in addition to a 10% penalty for withdrawing it before she’s 59 1/2.

She need a document from the school which can only be obtained by the student, to apply for her 401k hardship withdraw.

I’m refusing to help her get this document.

Her mom believes she has good reasons to continue.

Her perspective:
-We are family and we should support each other in hard times.
-It’s her money and she just needs my help accessing it. She’s not asking for my money
-It’s the “last step” and if she doesn’t get her money after this, she’ll quit.

It gets worse.

-It’s only $30,000 compared to the $1,500,000 she has already put in. She has put in this last bit to get it all back.
-She would rather lose $30,000 and have the peace of mind knowing they fully scammed her than thinking that she ruined peoples lives and lose her money

-She belives that they “lent” her money to get pay since she could not cover the entire amount & that its effecting their lives
-I’m “ruining” her life becase I am stopping her from accessing her own money.

She is on the fence about the situation.

My perspective:
I just want her to quit sending money and realize it’s a scam.

If giving her the document would allow her to lose her $30,000 and accept it’s a scam, I am fine with that.

She has lied every step of the way, always saying its the last step and that she will quit but never does.

Her promise to quit doesn’t have any meaning and if I enable her to get this money, I’m only ruining her life further when she finally accepts its a scam.

I don’t want to be involved in the scam, even if it’s just enabling her to access her money.

I don’t think there will ever be an end until her money runs dry and If I don’t help her here, this may be where her money runs dry.

AITA?

Sometimes you just have to put your foot down despite what the other person says. This is one of those times.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this.

Food for thought.

Something needs to be done.

Her mom feels that she needs to continue.

More sound advice.

Yup.

Another option.

Law enforcement needs to get involved.

This will also show her mom how serious this is, because *checks notes* she lost over $1,500,000!!

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.