Trapped by her alleged online lover, a 71-year-old senior has squandered all of her life savings – over $100,000 – hoping for a sweet romance and is now struggling to pay her rent and eat.
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If the resident of Repentigny agrees to tell her story, it is to prevent other people from experiencing such humiliation and so many financial worries. On several occasions during her meeting with Le Journal, the lady, whose identity we will conceal, claimed to have died of shame.
“Don’t judge me, please,” she asked, bursting into tears.
It is that until recently, the septuagenarian had a cyber relationship with a man who said he was French. It all started in the summer of 2021, a few months after the death of her spouse of the past 20 years, when loneliness began to weigh heavily in this pandemic period.
At the suggestion of a friend, she signed up for an online dating site. It was there that she met Jean-Claude (fictitious name).
Fake excuses
Quickly, the man in his fifties asked him for money to repair his car, claiming that his accounts were temporarily blocked. She then sent him a prepaid VISA gift card, the first in a long series.
During the 18 months that followed, all excuses were good to extract money from him.
Each time, it was in order to come and visit him and start a business in Montreal. She says she paid him at least fifty plane tickets.
Visa problems, missed flight, mechanical problems with the plane, confinement due to COVID, failure of screening tests: the victim no longer counts the bogus excuses he gave her.
“I love you and I want nothing more for us than shared happiness without fear of tomorrow. You can count on me, always,” Jean-Claude wrote to her to convince her.
When she got defensive about his refusal to pay her back, he always found a way to manipulate her into continuing to send him money, she explains.
“I’m just a man who has problems right now, that’s all,” said Jean-Claude. But this is not eternal, because sooner or later my problems will be solved. And then I’ll make you the happiest woman in the world. You have my word. »
She ended up sending him all of her savings, a sum of $120,000. The lady wanted to live a good retirement and travel for the first time in her life with this money.
“I’m so ashamed, if you only knew,” she says. I felt alone and I was afraid of losing him if I stopped. I hit a wall when I woke up one morning with $7 in my account. »
Food aid
Although she has now stopped sending him money, the septuagenarian finds herself with enormous financial problems.
Her old-age pension is not enough to support her and she risks being evicted from her accommodation. She must also have recourse to food aid for the first time in her life, she who has always lived comfortably.
“I am convinced that there are more people than you think who are victims of this kind of fraud and I want to warn them not to be fooled,” she concludes.
Love Fraud in Canada in 2022
- $58 million in losses
- 1056 victims who filed a report
- 3rd largest fraud in the country
- 95% of cases are online fraud
Who are the victims ?
- 55% women
- 24% men
- 21% other or undisclosed
Who can stop such a fraudster?
Although she admits to having been naïve and bitterly regrets her actions, the 71-year-old woman victim of a major love fraud feels abandoned and says she has no help from the police.
“I spoke with the police and they almost laughed in my face,” said the lady. He’s a hustler, do you think he’ll do this just with me? It has to be stopped,” she says.
Contacted by Le Journal, the Repentigny police told us that they had taken steps to see where the prepaid cards had been deposited. In vain.
Considering the “international” nature of the crime, they transferred the file to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center (CAFC). And as the investigation went “beyond the capabilities” of the Repentigny investigators, the file was therefore closed on their side.
Without being able to comment specifically on the case of the lady from Repentigny, Sergeant Guy-Paul Larocque, acting officer in charge of the CAFC, recognizes that this type of crime can have serious consequences for the victims.
“Love fraud is so devastating because there is breach of trust, emotional abuse and manipulation. It really is a narcissistic crime. The mental health of the victims is really damaged after such a crime. »
An account in Quebec
After taking steps with VISA, the victim said he managed to obtain the information that the prepaid cards had been deposited in a PayPal account registered in Quebec.
“I said that to the police and it didn’t change anything,” denounces the lady.
Possible recourse
According to lawyer Joey Zukran, who has been contacted by the victim, but who has not yet agreed to take his mandate, there could be possible legal remedies. Class action could be one of the options, provided other victims come forward, he says.
“If PayPal did allow fraudsters to redeem all prepaid cards for cash, given the high number of transactions and amounts, it seems to me they should have raised a red flag and identified these transactions as fraudulent,” says Me. Zukran. In my opinion, if everything that Madame says is correct, there could be grounds for filing a civil action. »