JACKSONVILLE, Fla, – A Jacksonville woman said she lost roughly $8,000 to a con man she met on an online dating site.
Susan Collins said her relationship with the man started over a "Words With Friends" game and continued with more conversations online.
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“I thought I had found someone who loved me and thought I was wonderful and wanted to spend the rest of their life with me," Collins said.
The man identified himself as a 61-year-old oil rig captain named Thomas Martins, of Denmark, who moved to Kentucky. The man would send Collins intimate messages via the Google Hangouts app.
"After telling me how beautiful I was and making me feel like the best, most wonder ful person in the world, then he started asking for money," Collins said.
The con man told Collins he needed money to help his son.
"I sent the $300 to a person in Kentucky thinking that it was his teacher, and then it kept snowballing from there -- just more and more money," Collins said.
Their relationship started in February and ended in May after Collins used a reverse image application.
Collins found the picture the man had been using was actually of a ship captain overseas, who is married to a man, and well aware his identity has been used to commit fraud.
Collins confronted the identity thief who is actually a 24-year-old Nigerian man. She said he apologized.
“I’m just very depressed after all this, and I want people to know that this is going on, and don’t fall for it,"
Police told Collins they would not be able to help as the man lives outside the country. Her story comes a day after the News4Jax I-TEAM revealed the story of a Florida widow who lost $270,000 under similar circumstances.