Man sends $200,000 to fake internet girlfriend

In one of the more unusual stories this weekend, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article which highlighted a bizarre online fraud case. A man from Naperville, Illinois has been conned out of $200,000 by a fake online girlfriend. KitGuru has to ask, just how dumb can any one man be?

The 48 year old man ended up calling police because he believed his girlfriend had been kidnapped somewhere around London. He explained to the police that he started the online relationship over 2 years ago and in that time had wired over $200,000 to the woman's bank accounts. The bank accounts were in England, the US, Malaysia and even Nigeria. Oh dear.

The police asked him for pictures and ID so they could track her, but the copy of the drivers license he was sent was a sample ID from Florida.

Officers then told him that he was a fraud victim and that his girlfriend never actually existed. He was said to be stunned at the news.

While many people will be laughing at him, we can't help but feel a little remorse for the poor bloke, that is a lot of money to send over the wire to someone you have never met.

KitGuru says: It highlights that people do fall foul of online fraud, even if many of us are pretty quick to pick up on fake emails and communications. KitGuru would like to think that we don't need to tell our readers to avoid sending substantial amounts of money, by wire transfer, to generals/girlfriends you have never met.

Comments below or in the KitGuru forums.

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