An Ohio man reportedly fell for a TikTok romance scam and lost up to $55,000.
The man, who died this summer, was living in a nursing home and began messaging with someone who called themselves “Sydney,” according to a new report from News 5 Cleveland.
[adinserter block="1"]The man’s ex-wife, Sue Collins, tells News 5 Cleveland that “Sydney” made plans with him but always backed out. Instead of meeting in person, she started asking him for money.
“Sydney” requested small amounts at first, but they added up, and the money was transferred into accounts belonging to other people with different names.
Collins also notes that Sydney’s requests for cash evolved into her asking Collins’ ex-husband to open joint accounts, with Sydney claiming she needed the account to access her late father’s $1 million London estate.
Collins estimates her ex-husband lost between $40,000-$55,000 in total to the scammer.
Sheryl Harris, the founder of the Cuyahoga County Scam Squad, notes that numerous senior citizens in nursing homes have lost money to similar romance scams.
In August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a warning about the rise in romance scams targeting recently widowed and divorced seniors.
In 2022, nearly 70,000 people in the US reported being victims of romance scams to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with reported losses totaling $1.3 billion.
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