This is almost exactly what has happened to me.
I met a person, got talked into investing in crypto (DeFi Liquidity Mining) It worked for a while until they offered a deal where they used my tokens for 90 days at a higher rate of return. When the 90 days was over, they told me I needed to pay 30% taxes before they would release my money back to my wallet.
Of course, I didn't have that kind of money. They also mentioned a 5% penalty per month.
So I'm out a large chunk of change and my 401K is depleted by a large amount.
I know I was scammed.
My question is, can I claim my loss as a theft and thus claim the entire loss this year? Other wise, my understanding is that I can only claim a carry forward loss to the tune of $3,000 per year. At that rate, my loss will outlive me.
Thanks for any help.
