Romance scams cost millions of dollars every year
Valentine’s Days is around the corner but romance scams take several victims every year, especially with the rise of AI.
Fox – 32 Chicago
- Christine Joan Echohawk, 54, was charged with laundering $1.5 million through online romance scams targeting elderly women.
- Echohawk allegedly received money from victims under false pretenses, often involving exaggerated stories of financial hardship.
- She then converted the funds to cryptocurrency and sent them to an unidentified male subject, also claiming to be romantically involved with him.
- Echohawk faces multiple felony counts and potential prison time and fines.
The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office filed charges Monday against a Pawnee woman for allegedly laundering an estimated $1.5 million in funds through online romance scams.
Christine Joan Echohawk, 54, was arrested and booked into the Pawnee County jail Monday on complaints of unlawful use of criminal proceeds and violations of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act. Online court records did not list an attorney for her.
Echohawk is accused of laundering money from multiple victims living in Florida, Texas, and Utah between Sept. 30 and Dec. 26, as detailed in a probable cause affidavit. According to agents with the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office, the victims were elderly women ranging in age from 64 to 79. They thought they were sending money to a man with whom they believed they were dating online, according to the affidavit.
“These types of scams that target seniors are especially egregious,” Oklahoma AG Gentner Drummond said in a news release Tuesday. “I applaud the work of my Consumer Protection Unit to fight for these victims and to hold accountable their alleged perpetrator.”
According to the affidavit, Drummond’s office received a referral from MidFirst Bank in January of suspected senior-fraud activity after the bank intercepted a $120,000 transfer from one of the alleged victims.
That woman sent $120,000 to Echohawk after allegedly being told the money would pay for fuel to help the male subject’s Alaskan tanker, supposedly carrying 700,000 oil barrels, return to shore, according to the affidavit.
Another woman was persuaded to pay $250,000 to Echohawk to allegedly help a male subject pay off expenses for a financial portfolio in Syria, also detailed in the affidavit.
And another woman sold her paid-off home so that she could send $600,000 to Echohawk, according to the affidavit.
The victims sent Apple gift cards, cash and cashiers’ checks, and wired money to accounts owned by Echohawk at MidFirst Bank, investigators said.
In January 2024, Pawnee police interviewed Echohawk about suspected criminal activity. After being told she was laundering funds, Echohawk allegedly stopped depositing and moving the funds for a short time, before deciding to start back up again, according to the affidavit. Echohawk told police that she was receiving and transferring the funds on behalf of the male subject, with whom she also believed herself to be in a relationship romantically, according to the affidavit.
Echohawk told investigators she would deposit and transfer the funds through various accounts, converting most of the funds to cryptocurrency, and then send the crypto payments to an account under the male subject’s name, as detailed in the affidavit. In a news release Tuesday, the AG’s office said that suspect has not been identified.
Investigators also wrote that Echohawk said she used some of the funds that had not been converted to cryptocurrency for personal gain. They also said she admitted to lying to various banks about the source of the money she’d received, saying that they were from people who’d owed money to her late husband, according to the affidavit.
During an interview with investigators last month cited in the affidavit, Echohawk said she has an associate’s degree in business and various nursing certifications. She also asked investigators if the issue would “all go away” if she were to pay back the people who’d sent her money, according to the affidavit. She now faces five felony counts that could carry a combined 24 to 62 years in prison and fines of up to $260,000, according to the AG’s office.
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