Everyone has heard or read stories about women who meet men through online dating sites, go on a date or two and then are assaulted ... or worse. But what we don't hear everyday is the story of a cunning woman who meets a man online and then assaults his bank account.
Edward of Mantua, N.J. thought he could trust someone who identified herself as Ms. Alin McGrath. They "exchanged many e-mails and talked (at) length by telephone," Edward wrote in a complaint to ConsumerAffairs.com.
McGrath, supposedly pinned down in France by her debtors, needed a chunk of Edward's bank account so she could pay off her bills and come to America, where she and Edward would presumably thereafter live in bliss, connubial or otherwise.
The two set out a verbal and written deal that he would wire her $11,000. Then they would visit each other and he would give her another chunk of change. Then, if they were still dating after six months, he would give her the rest of the money she needed to get out of her drowning pool of debt.
"Speaking to her on the phone several times she was very convincing and accurate in facts she would speak about, so I trusted her," Edward wrote.
Without having ever met her, Edward wired his desperate Internet girlfriend $11,000. But that wasn't enough.
"She said wires at her bank would take up to three weeks and pleaded with me to send 2,000 USD by UPS," Edward wrote. "I did in two separate shipments."
"After the first payment she kept trying to get more money and would not commit to a visit as we had agreed verbally and in writing," Edward wrote. "I would not send more money and she kept coming up with various stories (as to why we could not meet)."
More than $13,000 later, Edward finally began to suspect he had been duped.
"I have asked her to wire me back the 11,000 USD and she can keep the 2,000 USD," Edward wrote. "She refuses to send any portion of the money back."
"I felt and believe that what she gave me in writing and what I requested is sufficient to be considered an agreement ... or possibly a contract," wrote Edward, drawing a distinction that would perplex most legal scholars.
Unfortunately for Edward, contract or no, it would be extremely difficult and expensive, bordering on impossible, to retrieve his funds. Just as with Nigerian 419 e-mail scams, once the money is in a foreign bank account, it's gone.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Although the name and place may change, online dating scams are extremely common, said Mark Brooks, editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com, an online publication about Internet dating.
"It's hard to believe, but people still fall for this," Brooks said.
"The simple advice is to never give anyone any money or gifts if you don't know who they are," Brooks continued. "It's unfortunate that people use loneliness and tug at the heartstrings of individuals in order to scam them."
