> I am sure he "saw" real returns on a very real looking app or website.

Exactly: "Hanes told Mitchell a confusing story. Not long ago, Hanes explained, he started investing in cryptocurrencies with the help of some people he met online. First, he and his partners deposited money on a reputable U.S. platform for buying and selling crypto. The profits were enormous, he said: He took out his phone to show Mitchell his account balance, which seemed to indicate that the investment was worth $40 million."

And frankly, that's an entirely reasonable result for having invested in Bitcoin at any number of times, which was also by all reasonable measures a bad idea. I think even people who support the existence and value of crypto would agree that Bitcoin winners are most like stock-lottery winners than particularly savvy investors.

Crypto is great for scams even beyond it's infrastructural advantages because a lot of people made a ton of money from investing money they couldn't afford to lose in things that were pretty indistinguishable from the actual scams.