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ROMANCE SCAM: A costly scam that breaks your heart

By: Pete Knutson

Posted at 4:49 PM, Aug 28, 2023

and last updated 2023-08-29 09:53:37-04

TULSA, Okla — It all seemed so real. The pictures. The messages. And eventually the feelings.

“She found me on Facebook,” Wayne told 2 News.

Grace, as the messenger called herself, wanted a relationship with Wayne. She told him that she was stationed in Iraq, and just needed someone to talk to.

“It’s just gotten very romantic.”

Eventually, she told Wayne her bank account stateside had been frozen, and she needed money to pay for internet in Iraq, so they could continue to communicate online.

“I have spent a year and a half talking to this person," he said.

Each month, Wayne bought a gift card, took a picture of it, and sent it to Grace. “The thing is it’s not that much money, I mean it’s just a hundred dollars a month.”

But even just a hundred bucks a month starts adding up, especially for Wayne, on a fixed income, living on disability.

And to keep stringing Wayne along, Grace told him she was scheduled to come back to the states in a year, and they could finally be together. Then when the time came, Grace’s sob story would change, and change again.

“She was supposed to be there for a year and then come back, and of course she never came back in April," he said.

Grace told Wayne she just needed a little more money every month until she could return, although she apparently didn’t know when that would finally be.

Wayne began to wonder, and even fear, Grace’s real mission: tug at this heart to take his cash.

“I’ve already told her this month she isn’t going to get any because she should have been back by now," he said.

When Wayne started doubting Grace’s story he contacted the 2 News Problem Solvers. His story signaled most of the red flags of for a romance scam:

Being contacted out of the blue
Being strung along
Being asked for more money, especially using gift cards.

While Wayne told us his story, Grace texted him again. “Good evening from here,” the text began.
Wayne says Grace didn’t want a lot of money, at least at first. Experts say that’s the MO for scammers. Start out slow, asking for very little, yet greasing the wheel, so to speak, setting up for when they ask for more, and more, leading eventually, to a scammer’s jackpot, and a broken heart.

Just read what Wayne had to say. “I guess I’m going to be by myself for the rest of my life.”

Contact the Problem Solvers: