Crime & Safety

Online Dating Sham Scams Naperville Man for $200,000

Naperville police say a man contacted them earlier this week because he needed help rescuing his online girlfriend who he later found out did not exist.

A 48-year-old local man found out this week that he's been scammed for $200,000 by someone he thought was his online girlfriend.

The victim, who lives on 's southeast side, contacted city police around 7 p.m. Wednesday because his "girlfriend" had supposedly been kidnapped in London, police said.

"(He) contacted law enforcement to help him rescue the female," stated the Naperville police report.

The man told police that he'd wired money to several international bank accounts over the last two and a half years including some in Nigeria, Malaysia and England. He'd also sent money to accounts in the U.S., all in attempt to rescue the woman from various sticky situations, police said.

The man was about to call Scotland Yard in England to report the kidnapping, police said. That's when they stepped in to tell him the woman was fake.

"He was in disbelief that the female subject did not exist," according to the report. Police added that a Florida identification provided to the man was a sample ID from the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles website.

The man estimated that he's wired a total of about $200,000 over the course of the relationship, which stemmed from an online dating site. The case remained under investigation Friday.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.