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http://www.techspot.com/news/42583-man-pays-200000-to-save-fake-girlfriend-in-online-scam.html
By Emil Protalinski, TechSpot.com
Published: February 27, 2011, 11:14 PM EST
A 48-year-old Illinois man has experienced an online scam that was particularly devastating, both financially and emotionally. A woman he believed to be his online girlfriend turned out to be a fake, and his money has disappeared with her.
The scam was recently revealed because he went to the police asking for help to rescue the woman, insisting that she had been kidnapped in London. The online "relationship" between the two began over two years ago, during which he wired about $200,000 to several different bank accounts in Nigeria, Malaysia, England, and the US. That's all according to a police report cited by the Naperville Sun, which explained the nonexistence of the woman:
An identification card the woman provided to the man was a sample driver's license from Florida, the report said. According to the report, when the officer stated the female did not exist, the man "was in disbelief." The case is under investigation.
We knew that love, offline or online, was blind, but we never thought it could be pushed to this extent. He's not the brightest man alive, but given your experiences with love, do you feel sorry for him?
By Emil Protalinski, TechSpot.com
Published: February 27, 2011, 11:14 PM EST
A 48-year-old Illinois man has experienced an online scam that was particularly devastating, both financially and emotionally. A woman he believed to be his online girlfriend turned out to be a fake, and his money has disappeared with her.
The scam was recently revealed because he went to the police asking for help to rescue the woman, insisting that she had been kidnapped in London. The online "relationship" between the two began over two years ago, during which he wired about $200,000 to several different bank accounts in Nigeria, Malaysia, England, and the US. That's all according to a police report cited by the Naperville Sun, which explained the nonexistence of the woman:
An identification card the woman provided to the man was a sample driver's license from Florida, the report said. According to the report, when the officer stated the female did not exist, the man "was in disbelief." The case is under investigation.
We knew that love, offline or online, was blind, but we never thought it could be pushed to this extent. He's not the brightest man alive, but given your experiences with love, do you feel sorry for him?
The emotional side of me feels a certain empathy for this obviously very lonely person. The rational side of me is more Gordon Gekko-ish...A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place.
This post has been edited by Union_Thug: 01 March 2011 - 08:08 AM
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