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Metro Detroit woman scammed out of $703,000 by man she met online

Posted at 3:39 PM, Mar 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-22 18:26:04-04

On Sunday, March 19, a 58 year-old Troy woman filed a police report saying that she'd been swindled out of about $703,000. She says she thought she was helping a man named "Donny" with his financial troubles. She'd met him on Match.com, but had never seen him in person. In spite of that, he managed to convince her to wire him the money over the course of the last year.

According to the woman, the man told her that he worked on an oil rig outside of London. She was recently contacted by someone at Interpol who informed her that "Donny" had been arrested at the airport with a large amount of money that he didn't pay taxes on. She was told that she needed to wire him money for his bail and back taxes. Police suspect that was just the next part of the scam.

"It's amazing to me how many people can be easily convinced to give away their money. You need to be a little more cautious with that, especially when you're dealing with people you meet on the computer," says Troy Police Capt. Bob Redmond.
 
It was only after the woman's bank told her that she was being swindled that she filed a police report last Sunday.
Investigators suspect she'll never get her money back.
 
"There really is no crime. If you talk to somebody and convince them to give you money, that's your
fault. It's not necessarily a law violation. Bottom line, keep your money to yourself. If you have to help people, there
are better ways to do it."