{"id":14006,"date":"2021-10-27T06:01:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T13:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/blog\/?p=14006"},"modified":"2026-01-21T15:24:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:24:41","slug":"woman-romance-scammed-out-of-2m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/woman-romance-scammed-out-of-2m\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman Romance Scammed out of $2M"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Scammers prey on people’s vulnerabilities. They are masters of coming up with ways of making you believe in the fantasy world they create for you. Manipulation is one of the tricks of the trade for these people.<\/span><\/p>\n

How a Widow lost $2M To a Scammer<\/strong><\/h2>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/pexels-john-guccione-wwwadvergroupcom-3483098-2.jpg” panorama=”off” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

How Does Someone Lose So Much Money?<\/h2>\n

It is important to realize that these scammers are extremely good at what they do. Very few professions make over half a million dollars a year. The man who scammed Margarita was skilled enough to make over $500,000 a year by manipulating a grieving widow. This is truly one of the purest examples of evil that has long been overlooked by society.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scammer took his time. He got to know Margarita on a deep level and knew all of the right buttons to push to get her to do what he wanted. It all started by finding out that she was a grieving widow. The scammer made the fake name “Jeff Winchester” and started Calling Margarita “Margarita Winchester” to take advantage of the emotional void left by the death of her husband. The scammer took his time to let this deep manipulation soak in before asking for what he really wanted.<\/span><\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/pexels-photo-6669784.jpeg” panorama=”off” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

Why Didn’t she see it coming?<\/h2>\n

‘Jeff ‘ (the scammer) talked to Margarita for a full year and a half before he ever asked her for a dime. And by the time he finally asked, he asked her for more than $70,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, he didn\u2019t just outright ask her for money, he came up with a full story as to why they needed it. He claimed to be an oil rig worker. who needed to Transport a ton of oil to turkey. And of course, as the story goes with most scammers, The company wouldn’t pay for the expense of the trip, so he would need Margarita to pay for all of the costs. He said he would return the money to her as soon as he got paid<\/span><\/p>\n

After receiving the $70,000, he disappeared. And Margarita fell into turmoil.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She stopped eating, working, and even stopped communicating with her two children. Just when things started to seem bleak, James messaged her on Facebook<\/span><\/p>\n

Once they began talking again, James asked Margarita for over $15,000. Margarita was furious. She called him a scammer, and in her emotional range, threatened to personally through him in jail for what he had done to her. But eventually, she sent the money.<\/span><\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/depression.jpeg” panorama=”off” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

Margarita’s Life After the Scam<\/h2>\n

After the end of their four-year \u201crelationship\u201d, Margarita sent James over 2 million dollars. (1.5 Million pounds)\u00a0 with no hopes of ever seeing the money again.<\/span><\/p>\n

While dealing with the stress and humiliation of having been tricked out of such a massive amount of money, Margarita battled serious depression.\u00a0<\/span>The day came where she felt like she couldn\u2019t take the pain and despair that James had put her through anymore. After crying for so long, she decided to take her own life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A friend that was close to Margarita would call her to offer emotional support. But one night Margarita stopped answering her phone, and this amazing friend started to fear the worse, so he called the police to go to her house. When the police kicked down the door, they found Margarita laying in her bed, on the brink of death. This friend saved Margarita from taking her own life<\/span><\/p>\n

Margarita still feels the loss of the 2 million dollars that James took from her, but maybe just as strongly, she feels the loss of the love she felt she had in the relationship with James. She gets up every morning and tries to put the past behind her, but the financial stress that the scam has put on her has forced her to work three jobs just to meet her basic needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

So if you are ever on an online dating app, and someone tells you they’re an oil rig worker, it may not be a lie. But at the very least use a reverse image search to vet and verify<\/strong>.<\/p>\n