In what cops called a ‘romance scam on steroids’ this Nevada woman is facing 21 counts after drugging and robbing men she would meet online – and killed three of them
A woman has been accused of luring at least four men to meet her before drugging them and stealing their money.
Aurora Phelps, 43, is in custody in Mexico, and faces 21 counts including wire fraud, identity theft and one count of kidnapping resulting in death.
Three of the four men died after they were allegedly drugged by sedatives and robbed, with police calling the case a “romance scam on steroids.”
The dating scammer used online dating apps where she would find her victims, and entice them to meet her in person before taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in the “sinister” romance scheme.
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“This is a romance scam on steroids,” said Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division. One of the four victims, who were targeted in 2021 and 2022, awoke from a coma after Phelps gave him prescription sedatives over the course of a week, Evans revealed.
One of her victims was kidnapped by Phelps, where she heavily sedated him and took him across the U.S.-Mexico border in a wheelchair and then to a Mexico City hotel room, where he was later found dead, police say.
After allegedly drugging the victims, Phelps stole their cars, withdrew money from their bank accounts, used their credit cards to purchase luxury items and gold and even tried to access social security and retirement accounts as reported by Evans.
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The indictment stated that Phelps met one man in July 2021, and the pair had been on a few lunch dates. In November, they ordered lunch to his house, where Phelps slipped him a prescription drug. He was “mostly unconscious” for about five days and in that time Phelps gained access to his accounts and stole his iPhone, iPads, driver’s license and bank cards, according to the indictment. She also allegedly accessed his E-Trade account and sold Apple stock worth about $3.3 million, though she was unable to withdraw that money.
Authorities believe Phelps used popular dating apps including Tinder, Hinge and Bumble to find her targets. She would pick out lonely men looking for company, and would go on a number of dates before she stealthily gave them sedatives, according to Evans.
Evans said: “It’s folks that are out looking for love that ran into something far more sinister.” The killer, who is a dual citizen of Mexico and the US has been on the FBI’s radar for a couple of years, according to Evans.
Several of the victims’ relatives called authorities when they were unable to contact their loved ones, including one woman who couldn’t reach her father the day after he went on a date with Phelps in Guadalajara, Mexico, in May 2022, according to court records. The next day Mexican police found him dead on the bathroom floor of his home. Phelps then used an account belonging to the victim to purchase a gold coin, along with other transactions, the indictment alleges.
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