Woman Scammed Out of $300,000 on Christian Mingle Online Dating Scam

According to the ABC news affiliate KGO-TV, a 66-year old San Jose woman has been duped out of  $300,000 by a Nigerian man who used an online dating site profile to lure her.

Claiming to be an Irish citizen by the name of David Holmes, the man started talking to the woman through the dating site ChristianMingle.com. The victim in her mid-60s was a divorcee, and was looking for companionship. She thought she met a nice man on the dating site, but he turned out to be a crook. Now, the woman is putting her shame aside, and is trying to prevent another person from falling prey in similar fashion.

Here's what she said: 

"This individual seemed very interested in my life situations. Came across as a strong Christian person, prayed with me.

I got stranded in a city with a dead battery and this individual stayed with me, I believe it was 90 minutes making sure I was safe cause he said he wouldn't want no woman of his to ever be in a situation without help."

This woman does not want to be identified. Also, one doesn't need to know who she is to learn from what happened to her.

The relationship initially went on from communicating, chatting through the dating site to emails, text messages, phone calls and even flower deliveries. Then the Nigerian man, who initially claimed to work on a Scottish oil rig, turned a need for money (a few thousand dollars) to pay off his daughter's tuition fee. She wanted to help and tried to be smart about it, getting the required bank account information and paperwork on all the transactions.

The scammer further went on to request the woman to help fund his oil rig business. He went as far as creating a fake business website to convince the woman and legitimize his claim. According to authorities, the victim managed much of the $300,000 from her retirement account as well as refinancing her home.

Thankfully, by that time someone in her life intervened and contacted the authorities. The woman had by then wired an additional $200,000 as a second loan to help fund the Nigerian crook's oil rig business. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office was able to react in time to freeze the $200,000 transaction with the help of some Turkish banking authorities.

In addition, Turkish authorities were able to arrest an associate of the Nigerian scammer at the bank in question while he was trying to get the money. The Skype and email accounts used by “David Holmes” were traced back to a location in Nigeria. The victim got the $200,000 back, but it was less than half of what she lost.

Alerting the public about the incident, Deputy District Attorney Cherie Boulard said, “Don’t loan or invest money with anyone you have never met and only know from a dating website. It’s too easy to create a false identity, or steal someone else’s identity, and use it on an online dating service.” 

"We all want to trust one another. I know in the olden days we used to do business on a handshake. That's just not possible anymore, not with international crimes that are going on", Boulard added. 

The dating site "Christian Mingle" markets itself as "the online community created specifically for Christian singles looking to find friends, romance or marriage.” This is what the site ChristianMingle.com is about:

"ChristianMingle.com Where We Bring Christian Singles Together. At ChristianMingle.com we're more than just a site for Christian dating, we're a Christian personals community where you can find singles that share your values and love for God in Christ. We are always working to help you build a strong relationship with other Christian singles.

This is an ideal destination for Christian men and women to find friends, dates, and even soul mates, all within the faith......"