He took advantage of people’s willingness to help sick babies – and cashed in big.
When people game the system, find a financial loophole, or use their creativity in unique ways to make money, it can sometimes lead to fascinating, almost Robin Hood–like stories about how David triumphs over Goliath and the little guy manages to hold his own in the market or against a big corporation.
But sometimes these stories are about incredibly heartless individuals who deceive those trying to help in the most disgusting ways – and then proudly flaunt their utter depravity.
The Ruthless Self-Made Millionaire
A 25-year-old crypto scammer known as “29” is an example of the latter. Originally from California, he had been involved in criminal activity since his youth – reportedly part of the group that hacked Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook password at age 17 – and ever since entering the crypto scene, he’s made quite a notorious name for himself there as well.
29 not only flaunted the fruits of his frauds as a newly rich influencer, he even bragged about his crimes in interviews with other crypto bros.
With the money he made, he polished his public image, presenting himself as self-made millionaire Ronny Fargo, who supposedly earned his fortune through a few clever e-commerce moves and enjoyed showing off his wealth. But behind the facade stood a ruthless thief who preyed on the weakest.
His latest scheme is so shockingly devoid of compassion that one really has to wonder whether money has not only corrupted him but completely dissolved his character in greed.
Using Babies With Cancer As Bait
Due to the American healthcare system, many U.S. citizens face financial ruin when they fall ill – and if their own child receives a cancer diagnosis, parents are often overwhelmed not only by the financial burden but also by the emotional toll.
That’s why families often turn to the internet for help. GoFundMe campaigns seeking donations to pay for cancer treatments for toddlers are no longer rare and often give people in such desperate situations a glimmer of hope.
29 exploited exactly this hope and the willingness of others to help by selecting real cases like these, creating fake accounts of the victims, and then launching his own fundraising pages linked to cryptocurrencies he had invented.
Alongside the genuine accounts of grieving mothers, worried fathers, and families seeking help – along with the original fundraisers – there suddenly appeared these copies, which 29 promoted and pushed to go viral so that enough people would step in to “help” a baby with cancer and its family.
Once enough money had flowed into his crypto wallet, 29 simply deleted the accounts and disappeared with the funds.
Scammer Brags About His Crimes
He did this multiple times, and while desperate people had to watch the money meant to support their crises being spent on luxury watches, cars, and yacht vacations, 29 even boasted about his actions in interviews.
He proudly described how he pulled off one scam after another using this rug-pull method, tricking unsuspecting people into donating thousands of dollars.
As if that weren’t vile enough, 29 also mocked his victims. Often, the last messages from the fake profiles read:
[...] this baby, you just got rugged [in terms of "rug pull scam"]
I'll rug children every chance I get.
Or even:
Rugged this dumb [...] baby too easy. Hope it suffers. Made a cool 5 bands. thanks for playing [...]
29 makes absolutely no effort to hide his crimes, and shockingly, his freedom so far seems to prove him right: he has yet to face any legal consequences. Whether authorities are already tracking him and just waiting for the right moment to strike remains unclear. For now, the “scamfluencer” continues to openly talk about his actions – one can only hope justice catches up to him before he impersonates the next profile of a child with cancer.