Nanaimo Woman $100,000 Scam Victim

Scammer On Match.com

An elderly Nanaimo woman is reeling after losing almost $100,000 in a notorious dating site scam.

Her ordeal began after the recent death of her husband. In late 2016, lonely and looking for friendship, she signed up on Match.com, a free dating site. It wasn't long before she was exchanging emails, texts and phone calls from a male who went by the name of Jonathan LUCRON. Soon she felt a relationship had started with LUCRON, who claimed to be a civil engineer working in China. After several months, he began asking for money to support his various work projects. She willingly agreed to wire him money after he promised to pay her back. Soon, she was sending money to various accounts around the globe. At this point, she had never met LUCRON in person.

Several weeks ago, LUCRON told her he was travelling to a nearby city and planned to ask her to marry him. Thrilled at finally being able to meet the man she planned on spending her golden years with, she travelled to the city to await his arrival. After two days and checking with every possible airline, she realized he wasn't going to show. It was then that she realized she had been scammed and decided to report it to the Nanaimo RCMP.

Investigators have been unable to find any record of Jonathan LUCRON. The area code of the phone number he provided has been traced to southern Ontario; however, there is no record of this phone or Jonathan LUCRON in any police databases.

If you enter Civil engineer dating scam or simply Dating scam in a google search, there are multiple testimonials from women around the world who suffered the same fate. Some lost money while others heeded the warning signs and broke off contact. If someone whom you have only met online starts asking you for money, alarm bells should be going off and it is time you forget you ever met them. said Constable Gary O'Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP.

To learn more about dating site scams or to report a scam, go to Anti Fraud Centre