Jennifer Dennis, a 76-year-old widow fell in love with Caleb, a man she met on Facebook but was later scammed by that same man who took almost all her life savings.
Caleb had told her that he was working in Yemen as a doctor for the Red Cross. She was living in Georgia when she met him on Facebook.
They kept in touch with each other online for a couple of months before Caleb proposed that they should have a fresh start by living together. He suggested that they should buy a home together in Cary, North Carolina.
Ofcourse, Dennis didn’t reject the idea because her Georgia house brought back some memories; the house and location reminded her of her late husband which was just heartbreaking.
Caleb proposed to pay $600,000 for their new home and asked her to pay the $70,000 which was remaining. Dennis had sent him that amount, and $8,700 in addition for any other expenses.
Dennis together with her son, Raymond, packed up all their belongings in order to relocate and they sold their Georgia home and drove to the house in Cary. Only for her son to realize quickly that something was odd.
Raymond told the TV station that, ‘when I noticed that someone was still living in the house and knocked on the door, I automatically knew that it was a scam.’
‘The owner of the home told them he had lived in the home for years and had no intention of ever selling.’
Dennis immediately informed Caleb, but he sent her an image showing how he was ‘supposedly been beaten up’, she said. Thereafter, she never heard from him again.
On Friday, September 29, Dennis told ABC’s Good Morning America, ‘I had all that money and I don’t think I’ll ever get it back.’
Dennis and her son slept in the car because they were left homeless, she lost all her life savings.
Fortunately, a camper was donated for them to live in by a member of their church. Dennis said her story should serve as a warning to others.
She told WTVD, ‘I think that it’s devastating for me, but I have my son, which has been a blessing. So, some women are totally alone and they get scammed like that.’
Ms Jennifer said her story should serve as a warning to others.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, last year, romance scams cost nearly 70,000 people roughly $1.3billion, this is so heartbreaking.
