Woman loses thousands after being extorted online

Author: Andrew Scheinthal
Published:

FORT MYERS, Fla.- A 60-year-old woman is out $10,000 after getting conned by a crook online.

The victim claims the thief threatened to post nude photos of her all over the Internet if she didn’t pay up.

The woman is paying a high price for trusting a stranger on a website so many of us use on a daily basis.

“I made the mistake of starting to chat with somebody from Facebook.”

The victim, who will not be named to protect her identity, has lived in Fort Myers for just a few years. She says back in March, she met a man through Facebook who she began to trust.

“I started to accept him like a friend.”

The victim says they began to Skype, and had deep webcam chats about religion and God.

But that’s when things took a terrible turn.

“The next day, he showed me the picture. My face, and my naked body.”

But, the photo wasn’t real, it was photoshopped.

The man sent her a message saying if she did not send him money, he would post the picture online and send it to her employer.

The victim was so distraught, she immediately gave in.

She sent him $300 here, $500 there, and before she knew it, she was out $10,000.

“Take screen shots, record conversations,” said Shaun Book, owner of the Area 51 PC store.

He says too often people fall for these kinds of scams. That’s why, if you find yourself in a similar situation, you need to act fast.

“You want to call an authority, but you also potentially want to contact your banking institution.”

Book says your bank might be able to follow the money trail.

As for the victim of this scam, she’s not looking to get her thousands back, she’s looking for justice.

“I want him to be in jail, pay the consequence, and don’t hurt another people.”

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