A recently divorced mum of three has revealed how she lost her more than $100,000 to a scammer she met on Tinder after he convinced her to invest in bogus cryptocurrency schemes.

Rebecca Holloway, 42, was coming out of a messy second marriage when she was swindled out of more than $100,000 by fraudsters posing as a French entrepreneur called 'Fred.'

She fell for a crueel scam known as 'pig butchering' whereby victims are effectively 'fattened up' with a fake romantic relationship before being 'butchered' by fraudulent investment advice.  

Tech executive Shreya Datta, 37, and single mum Kate, 41 both revealed they lost $450,000 and $80,0000 respectively in an eerily similar ruse. In all, the three women have handed over half a million dollars to scammers. 

Officials say the con is exploding across the country, with Secret Service agents admitting they were seeing many cases. 

The body is responsible for 'safeguarding' America's financial and payment systems and regularly probes high value fraud cases.

'Pig butchering' is also occurring in Australia. Cybercrime expert Simon Smith confirmed there's been many local victims, with some losing up to $850,000.

'They are very elaborate and relentless, the scammers keep going until they have taken their victim's last cent.

- Rebecca said: Single women approaching middle age are so vulnerable. 

'We have money but we might not have met the right guy yet. And suddenly this good looking man starts talking to you and you're excited. 

'Looking back, the signs are so obvious. But at the time you want to believe it's real.'

Rebecca - a freelance marketing executive who once worked on Wall Street - was immediately drawn to 'Fred' after receiving consistent and attentive messages, which made him so unlike the men she usually matched.

He claimed to be a French entrepreneur living in Philadelphia, who had studied economics at university. He also said he had a daughter - something the pair bonded over as Holloway has three teenage children.

They matched on Tinder in March this year and quickly moved over to text where 'Fred' then started discussing his cryptocurrency investments, which immediately piqued Rebecca's interest. 

Much of what he was saying was accurate. He told her that in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank - there was a lot of money to be made in alternative platforms. 

At the time, media outlets were running reports with headlines such as 'Bitcoin spikes amid Silicon Valley Bank collapse.'

Intrigued, she thought there was 'no harm' in listening to Fred and under his instruction she transferred $1,000 to what she believed was a real cryptocurrency platform. 

The platforms he ushered her too were modelled off legitimate sites but with slightly different URLs.

She immediately saw returns on her investment, making $168 on four 'trades'.

The 'pig butchering' con is long winded and sees the scammer engage in a months long relationship to build up trust.

Crooks often allow victims to withdraw money easily from the investment app in the beginning - but once they have invested heavily they will lose this option.

Sure enough, Rebecca was immediately able to retrieve her $168 earnings and transfer them back to her bank account. 

She then traded a further $6,000 from her savings and saw her money continue to balloon. 

In the meantime, her supposed relationship with 'Fred' was blossoming. While he avoided meeting up in person, he would video call her while he was making dinner though she said he was mostly off camera and she struggled to get a proper look at his face.

Before long, she had cashed out her entire 401K (US workplace retirement plan) - worth $100,000. After accounting for the government tax she faced during the transaction, she was left with $70,000 to invest again. 

Alarm bells only rang when she met up with a friend for dinner and she shared the details of her relationship with 'Fred.'

'My friend told me about pig butchering scams and that's when I realised what had happened,' she said. 

'It felt like a movie where suddenly everything around me blurred and became distorted. I didn't even try to withdraw my money, I knew at that point it was gone.'

On reflection, she had suspected several times something was up with 'Fred.' 

At times, it felt like she was speaking to several different people, with his moods changing frequently. She also noticed he didn't appear to have a French accent in videos he sent.

This was something single mum Kate, from Vancouver, Washington, had observed too. Like Rebecca she believed she had met a French entrepreneur - though he said he lived in Seattle. 

He claimed to be called 'Andy' and working as a wine trader. Over time, the duo struck up a relationship when he convinced her to invest $80,000. 

I was the perfect sucker in a way because I knew nothing about cryptocurrencies.'

And tech executive Shreya Datta also believed she was talking to a French wine trader - who ended up conning her out $450,000. 

Shreya - who earns a six-figure salary in a global tech firm - told the Inquirer she had felt as though she had 'a hole in my soul for not having a man in my life' - hence why she was tricked.

'I was in a trance,' she said, adding 'it's like my psychology was hacked.'

Rebecca has now reported her case to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority - but she has no idea if she will ever see her money again.

Many pig butchering operations are reportedly run by criminal syndicates in Cambodia which employ thousands of people.

A report found last year that workers themselves are enslaved and abused, having been lured there with the promise of a legitimate job.

They are given scripts tailored to individual victims.