Fuquay-Varina man scammed out of $700,000 awaits any return of his money

A Fuquay-Varina man is stressed about the amount of money he lost in an elaborate scam. He reached out to WRAL Investigates after seeing his name in a federal court document related to an online investment scam.

Wesley Marley learned after reporting his losses to the FBI that he was the victim of an international scam known for its odd name, pig-butchering. The name alludes to the number of cuts scammers make on their victims’ lives after taking months to gain their trust.

The scam artist he was fooled by was convincing, Marley said. And yes, he’s embarrassed, but he wants to give others a chance to recognize it before they, too, lose thousands.

Marley has always worked for his living and was nearing retirement. Now he spends a lot of his time calling to learn when he’ll see any of the more than $753,000 he lost in an elaborate crypto investment scam. He’s been told by federal agent investigating his case he could get $630,000 of it back.

“I'm tickled to death. If I get that back, you know. I could be, I could be at all of it,” he said.

Marley called WRAL after seeing his initials in a WRAL story about how crypto scams are surging in North Carolina.

Experts explain that scammers want victims to invest in crypto because it’s the easiest currency to move.

The latest numbers from the U.S. Department of Justice show that in fiscal year 2025 the DOJ seized nearly $2.5 billion in crypto linked to cybercrimes. That's 10 times the amount seized just five years ago, when only $248 million was tracked down.

WRAL Investigates asked North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson if there’s any way to prosecute cybercriminals who operate from outside the United States.

“There are people who help transmit this once it is in our borders. Those people are absolutely within the reach of our law. If the perpetrator is overseas, there are still ways that we can go after them. There are still ways we can go after the companies domestically that are helping to participate in that crime,” Jackson said.

Compounding the difficulty of tracking the funds is that oftentimes scammers move multiple victims’ investments together, not in separate accounts. That leaves federal investigators to parse whose money is whose.

Marley has waited more than a year after reporting what happened to the SBI.

“If I hadn't called when I did, or filled that information, they probably would have had the money. All the money would have been gone within another two weeks,” Marley said he was told by a federal agent.

While he waits, Marley says this experience has changed how he sees the world.

“It made you lose trust in people. And I'm sure there's a bunch of people out there right now … that have been scammed, and they were too embarrassed to report it, and I'll put money on that right now,” he said.

If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam, report it on the SBI’s website. You can also file a complaint with the state’s Department of Justice consumer protection office.