Posted on 05/04/2019 1:30:26 PM PDT by simpson96
AURORA, Illinois -- A woman was swept off her feet and then taken to the cleaners, losing $250,000. She thought she was falling in love but instead, was betrayed.
The FBI calls it the confidence scam or the romance scam, and said it consistently ranks in the top three online schemes, preying on people who are looking for companionship and love.
But before you know it, you've lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, just like Laura Bockus.
"How could you do this to somebody. I mean, seriously, how could you sleep at night doing this to someone," she wondered.
Bockus said she was forced to put her Aurora home up for sale.
"The annuity's gone, my credits gone, and I have to sell my house," Bockus said. Bockus was tricked into sending dozens of cash payments totaling $250,000 to a person who she thought would be a partner for life.
"He was going to move here, in this house, and then we were going to buy a house in Florida," she explained.
She met "Richard" on an online dating site. Shortly after, she said they ditched the dating platform interface and exchanged phone numbers and e-mails.
"Every time I see your picture I fall in love all over again," Richard wrote to Bockus. She has a table full of romantic love letters. Another read, "If I had a flower every time I thought of you I'd have a whole garden forever."
It wasn't long before requests for money started.
"Six weeks' worth of build-up to where we were, I thought, really close, and for him to ask for -- started out small amounts, you know, like $2,000 or $3,000, and then the largest one was like $50,000," Bockus said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc13.com ...
Ping.
Uh Seriously, they need to publish Red Flags?
Small amounts - 2000 to 3000 ?
Does this woman live in Beverly Hills ?
How do they sleep at night?
Like babies.
This woman needs a Guardian
Check out the video. She is clearly elderly.
The FBI should know, they baited and tried to scam the Trump campaign with help of Russians... same FBI that pursues Assange coopted him....
I have zero sympathy for any woman who is that stupid.
This is so sad. That there are good people who are so lonely they are susceptible to these creeps.
Was he a Nigerian prince? Happens every time.
Is this what the Clinton Foundation resorting to now — hiring writers to scam women on dating sites?
Amen.
The same way those at AIG and other financial institutions have managed to sleep at night after wiping out millions of Americans with THEIR con.....only THEY had our government on their side.
Florida again.
There is a ‘guy’ out there in cyberland that for 1500 bucks will ‘fix’ your credit.
Just give him the 1500 and sit back and wait for results.
(note - Do NOT hold breath while waiting for results)
I think I know who the perp is.
KRAMER: Her bouquet cleaved his hardened...
NEWMAN: Shell.
KRAMER: ...shell. And fondled his muscled heart. He embibed her glistening spell...just before the other shoe...fell.
PAM: Kramer, that is so lovely.
KRAMER: It's by an unknown 20th-century poet.
PAM: Oh, what's his name?
KRAMER: Newman.
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