CONNECTICUT (WTNH) — The Connecticut Better Business Bureau says one case is one of the highest examples of romance scamming they’ve ever seen.
“Janet,” which is a pseudonym, from Connecticut, exclusively told News 8 that one man stole her heart and so much more. No one in her family knows this tale of love, betrayal, and thievery.
“I don’t know exactly when, but he said he loved me,” she said.
Connecticut families claim they were scammed by monuments company
They met in the line at the Bristol Post Office, started chatting, exchanged smiles, then phone numbers…happily ever after? Hardly, no fairy tale. More like a nightmare.
Janet, who is quite sharp an detailed, says the man told her his name John Gilbert, who worked on a ship in the Gulf of Mexico when they first met.
Janet, divorced, let her guard down and she was looking for love.
“Charming like no other man I’ve ever met in my life,” she said.
The scammer says he needed money to get off the ship and get back home. She says there were these threatening texts, saying men were going to harm him if she didn’t pay up.
But she gave nearly every last dime she had, going hungry sometimes, with no money for food.
In all, Janet sent $100,000 by the time it was over. Happily ever after no more, and that’s when she went to the police.
Her warning to all women, see the next love of your life in person, often.
The Connecticut Better Business Bureau says, behind investment scams, dollar wise, romance scams are highest in the state. And this $100k loss is the highest ever recorded locally in all of 2024.
“If they’re asking you to use a pre-paid debit card use a cash app or a peer to peer app those are supposed to be with people you know and trust,” Kristen Johnson with the Connecticut Better Business Bureau said.
Some good news, detectives are tracking John Gilbert and Janet has gotten some money back, not all.
But she’s hoping for more, until death do us part.
Watch the full video on News 8 at 6.
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