Internet Dating Scam: Woman Loses Life Savings To A Man She Never Met

Online dating has become increasingly popular, but it certainly is not without risk, and one woman from California learned that the hard way. Yin, a 56-year-old hairdresser from Oakland, was duped out of her life savings after sending it to a man she met on the dating site Match.com.

A U.S. Marine's photographs were used, without his knowledge, to scam Yin out of $273,000 after she bought a six-month membership on Match and came across his profile. His profile said his name was David Perez, a divorced father of a 10-year-old girl.

Yin tells ABC7 she and the man texted and regularly sent photos. "I fell in love with him quickly, you know," Yin told journalist Dan Noyes. "Like really deeply fall in love with him, trust in everything he said."

But after just five weeks of courtship, the catfisher requested money from Yin, claiming he needed money because he was on a secret mission after being deployed to Afghanistan. "I know you're doing everything to help me, but I just want you to try your best," he wrote her.

Yin said, "I was so nervous shaking, I did not know what to do. I told him, he said don't worry, don't worry, you know don't cry."

The scam involved Yin working with a military attorney through a phony company and depositing the money into a Chinese bank. After sending the money, the two planned on meeting at a restaurant for her birthday, but he never showed up.

“He said he was in the restaurant waiting for me,” Yin told ABC 7. “I went there, I couldn’t see him, that’s why I said, you know, it’s probably a scam.”

Since Yin sent the money to the scammer on her own accord, Chase Bank stated that her options are limited for getting back the money, though Match refunded her membership and deleted Perez’s profile from their site. She has since gotten in touch with the FBI to see what else can be done.