How A New Jersey Elderly Widow Was Swindled Out Of $50,000 In A ‘Sick’ Fake Romance

A New Jersey senior lost her life savings quickly after falling victim to a “sick” romance scam. An expert explained to Newsweek how these scams work.

Gloria Mooney, 73, is described as a “kind, caring” person who “would not hurt a fly” by her son Ben DeSilva in a recent GoFundMe campaign.

“Unfortunately, in today’s technology-driven world, these wonderful attributes can make someone vulnerable to deplorable people looking to scam them,” said DeSilva, who lives in Elmwood Park.

Mooney has been a widow since 2010, but life after the death of her husband has not been easy.

Mooney was involved in a serious head-on collision on her way home in 2021, causing her car to be totalled and resulting in significant injuries. In 2023, nearly two years later, another car ran a red light and t-boned the New Jersey resident.

“This accident was different,” DeSilva explained. “My mother had sustained more than just physical injuries. She was emotionally shaken. Her pain persisted, so she saw several doctors and underwent additional tests. In the weeks following, I noticed a shift in her personality and behaviour. Something seemed off.”

By June of that year, DeSilva’s nagging suspicion had given way to a troubling discovery.

Mooney shared that she had a Facebook friend named Henry. Henry allegedly worked on an oil rig, and the two met online.

“My stomach twisted, and I immediately asked to see his profile, which I knew was fake,” DeSilva said. “I tried to explain it to her, but she did not understand.”

DeSilva and his brother tried to explain that the man was not real, but Mooney said she understood and would not speak to “Henry” again.

However, the situation repeated itself four times, putting “incredible strain” on their relationship, according to DeSilva.

In October, DeSilva opened a letter from his mother’s bank and discovered that a severe financial loss had occurred as a result of the man he believed to be Henry.

“It says she is late with her payment,” DeSilva explained. “This made no sense to me because she always paid her bills on time, if not ahead of schedule, and had a high credit score.”

DeSilva’s heart dropped after he asked for permission to review Mooney’s finances, he admitted.

“All I could do was cry in anger and disbelief,” DeSilva explained.

“This entity used her kindness, compassion, and all of her characteristics against her,” DeSilva stated. “They convinced my mother that they loved her, would take her away, and be happy together.

“They took advantage of her loneliness and grief, convincing her to send money online repeatedly for several months, promising that she would ‘get everything back and more.’”

Mooney was duped into withdrawing her 401k and personal savings, resulting in a loss of over $50,000. She used gift card codes, Bitcoin, and wire transfers.

DeSilva and his brother attempted to recover her money by contacting financial institutions, local police, and the FBI’s online fraud department, but were unsuccessful.

“I spoke with our local detective, and he was able to trace the transfers and email addresses to Nigeria, which is the primary location for many of these types of scams,” DeSilva stated.

Henry’s Facebook photo turned out to be of a celebrity.

“They took a real person’s identity and pretended to be them,” DeSilva explained. “This is all part of their procedure, and it is sick.”

While Mooney has begun to see her doctor more frequently and is working with a therapist, and DeSilva now manages her finances, DeSilva said the family has yet to recover the more than $50,000 stolen from Mooney.

“We have decided to swallow our pride because we can not help her recover her lost finances alone,” DeSilva explained. “Never take a situation for granted, and always watch out for your elderly relatives. Never be afraid to question a parent, grandparent, or other relative if something appears to be wrong. “You might save their life.”

Romance scams are becoming more common as more people use social media, making them easy targets for strangers looking to trick them into believing a fairy tale and stealing thousands of dollars.

According to Austin Berglas, Global Head of Professional Services at BlueVoyant and former FBI Cyber Division Special Agent, traditional phishing scams begin with a broad request for personal information, such as usernames and passwords, banking information, or other sensitive information, via malware and fake sites.

“Romance scams begin very similarly. The criminal or group creates a fictitious online persona and then casts a wide net, sending emails or posting messages to multiple accounts and waiting for responses.”

When potential victims respond, scammers typically spend a significant amount of time communicating with the victim in order to establish trust and emotional connection.

“Once a victim is emotionally invested, they are more likely to ignore certain red flags that could indicate a scam,” Berglas said. “These predators will capitalise on loneliness and a desire for companionship, gradually gaining trust and frequently isolating their victims from friends and family in order to avoid exposure.”

Once the connection is established, scammers take advantage of the victim’s empathy and begin to ask for assistance with a crisis, travel, debt, or legal or family issues, he explained.

“As with most things on the Internet, we have to approach everything with a healthy dose of scepticism,” Berglas explained. “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

There are some warning signs to keep an eye out for, though. Any online relationship that progresses quickly while one party avoids video chats or in-person meetings raises some red flags, according to Berglas.

According to Keith Jarvis, a senior security researcher at Secureworks Counter Threat Unit, these romance scams primarily target emotionally vulnerable individuals who do not have regular social or familial relationships.

As a result, seniors like Mooney are a particularly vulnerable target for romance scammers.

“These scams can cause significant distress and long-term psychological trauma,” Jarvis told Newsweek.”It is critical for consumers to be cautious and sceptical of online relationships that move too quickly or where the other party is overly insistent on financial assistance.”

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, believes it is the responsibility of both the government and the social media platforms to reduce the number of romance scammers preying on victims.

“We need companies that provide the platform for these scams, like email services and social media, to get better at stopping them on the front end,” Beene told Newsweek. “While some services have improved in terms of detecting spam and preventing it from reaching a larger audience, there is still a long way to go in this space to create a safer environment.”

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