I grew up in a large family in a small Canadian town. We never had much extra money. My dad worked as a mechanic and managed to quit drinking when I was ten, which really stuck with me. From early on I wanted to be the responsible one who could take care of his own family someday. After a serious accident at work when I was young and newly married with a baby on the way, I pushed through rehab and retraining until I became a chartered accountant. Sarah and I raised three daughters together. We stayed married for over forty years and now have eleven grandchildren. Life felt pretty solid, we just had that one mortgage left and some retirement savings. That’s when I started thinking crypto might be a practical way to finally pay off the house.

In 2021, I got pulled into something that looked like a legitimate investment platform. The account showed steady growth, small withdrawals worked at first, and nothing felt rushed. Slowly, I moved in more money, including retirement funds. Then the withdrawals suddenly stopped. They started asking for more and more documents and verifications. What seemed safe turned into months of delays and excuses. The money loss hurt badly, but hiding it from Sarah and living with the shame put real strain on our whole family.

Putting this book together meant going back over every painful detail. I included the red flags I missed, how these scams usually play out, and some actual resources that can help. It was hard to write but if it stops even one other person or family from going through the same thing, then it was worth the effort. This is me taking something awful that happened and trying to make it useful.