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Police: Man Scams Woman Out Of Retirement Fund After Meeting Her On Christian Dating Website

CHESTER COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) -- A Chester County woman lost her retirement in a scam that investigators say started with a relationship on a Christian dating website, and the scam may have netted a man more than $1 million.

West Whiteland Township Police Detective Scott Pezick says a West Chester woman met a man on dating website ChristianMingle.com.

He posed as an oil executive from Conshohocken, heading to Nigeria to start an oil company, and he needed help getting the business off the ground.

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"You think you're meeting someone that has the same religious beliefs as you, and they're honest people and in this case, that's probably why he targeted that site," said Pezick.

He says the man not only drained her retirement fund, but he was also scamming other people, having them send her checks, which she would then deposit and wire to him, upwards he says of $1 million.

Pezick says too often once people, especially older people, get scammed, they're embarrassed to come forward.

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"They figure I lost the money, I don't want to report it because it's embarrassing, my children will be mad at me, I'm going to look stupid, so they don't report it," he said.

He says they're still searching for the person behind this scam. He says they have frozen some accounts and will hopefully be able to return some money to victims.

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