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“If you can give me your trust, I’m sure we can be friends without hurting each other.”
Susan, a Charlotte woman who went looking for love online, reads a man’s profile who she became involved with. She thought he was the love of her life.
“He was a widow. He had a daughter. He seemed like he really loved his daughter a lot and that really fascinated me,” she said describing the man she met.
But the man had the same picture all over the internet, with several different names. She instant messaged him seven days a week, two hours a day. They talked about everything.
“My Mom, my work, the people I work with, just everyday conversations. We just really built up a trust.,” she said. Within two weeks, he asked for $1,200. He told Susan he’d been robbed and his passport and wallet had been stolen.
Soon, he asked for more. Susan wired him the money every time, believing she was helping someone in need. Helping someone she had fallen in love with.
“I was going to marry him,” she told us. He kept up the charade and even booked a ticket to Charlotte to meet her, or so she thought. The ticket was a fake and he never showed. WCNC talked to Supervisory Special Agent David Johns with Charlotte’s FBI office. He said Susan’s story was a common one.
“That’s the best way to get in and build someone’s confidence is through emotional contact and that connection,” he said. In 2006, the FBI says almost $200 million was lost to Nigerian scammers, including those on dating sites.
“Enjoy the online dating relationship, keep the money to yourself,” Johns said.
Susan is still having trouble trusting.
“It’s really going to be hard for me to really trust someone again. It’s going to be really hard,” she said.
By DAN STARKS / WCNC
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