"I wanted to believe that I was in love, and that he loved me," said Ortiz-Rodeghero.
For a woman who prefers cross-stitching to computers, what's happened in the last 12 months is hard to believe."I ended up losing close to $500,000," said Esther Ortiz-Rodeghero. "I feel like such a fool."This time last year, Ortiz-Rodeghero, recently widowed, decided to look for love online.
"I was grieving, and I was lonely, and I wanted someone to share my life with," she said.The 55-year-old financial analyst ended up on seniorpeoplemeet.com, where she soon met "Wayne," who claimed to be a Major General in Iraq.They e-mailed every night, and eventually get serious.He was romancing me to the hilt," said Ortiz-Rodeghero.He told her they couldn't talk on the phone because of security issues, but before long he asked for money.At first, he asked for a few hundred dollars to help his son, and then he asked for thousands to launch a business."He asked me if I would help him with some of the fees, and it would be our business, and I would help him run it," she said.Ortiz-Rodeghero believed his promises that he would pay her back and wired money all over the world. She blew through her husband's life
insurance, her savings, her 401k, and then she took out
loans.Castle Rock Police Lt. Tim Gorman said these so-called sweetheart scammers could be anyone, anywhere."It could be a male, a female, older, younger, you don't know who you're speaking to," said Gorman.Ortiz-Rodeghero isn't alone. 7NEWS found several websites dedicated to exposing
online romance scams. The FBI also recently sent out a warning that an online Prince Charming "could be a criminal sitting in a cyber café with a well-rehearsed script."Even internet dating sites concede it's a problem.
Even internet dating sites concede it's a problem.Seniorpeoplemeet.com sent 7NEWS an e-mail response to our questions, stating that "Every dating site experiences such fraudulent members.""I wanted to believe that I was in love, and that he loved me," said Ortiz-Rodeghero.She said she finally got wise when she sent "Wayne" money for a plane ticket to Colorado and he never came.
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