http://www.ocala.com/article/20151201/ARTICLES/151209983
SILVER SPRINGS,FL - A 39-year-old man is the victim of an Internet scam that cost him $60,000.
According to a Marion County Sheriff’s Office’s report, the man, from Silver Springs, told deputy Roy A. Johnson that on July 4 he met a woman on the Internet. The man said that between July 4 and Nov. 27, they exchanged several email messages and she told him she was in the U.S. Armed Forces serving in Iraq. While there, the woman said, she saved the life of a man who claimed to own several oil wells. In return, he was going to give her a large amount of gold.
The man said the woman asked for his help in shipping the gold to the United States and told him she was going to ship it to him and pick it up when she was discharged from the military.
Over their five months of correspondence, the man said he sent the woman several money orders, which totaled $60,000.
The man told authorities he recently received an email stating that the woman had been arrested in another country, which led him to believe he was the victim of a scam.
Officials said Tuesday they want to remind people that before they commit to sending money to a stranger they should talk with family members or friends. And, they said, if something sounds too good to be true, chances are it is.
