TAMPA, Fla. — One of the top streaming shows on Netflix, Tinder Swindler, is bringing a lot of attention to a growing problem across the world: romance scams.
The Better Business Bureau and FBI are warning all of us that scammers are using the pandemic to con a record number of Americans out of money.
Florida is one of the top states for romance scams and one Orlando woman is opening up about her story in the hopes of helping more people spot a scam and avoid it. She nearly lost everything after falling in love with someone she met on a dating site.
Rebecca D’Antonio figured when she joined the dating site that she would be a wing woman for her friend who just launched into the online dating world and she didn’t think much would come of it.
“Then Matthew came into the picture. He seemed ideal in a lot of ways,” she explained.
D’Antonio had put a lot of information into her profile, hoping to weed out any non-candidates. She included details like she enjoys children but for medical purposes wasn’t able to have them. She now believes some of those details may have made it easier for “Matthew” to know what to say to woo her.
“Matthew” said he was originally from Australia and worked in oil. He was a single dad to a boy named “Evan.”
Over the course of a full year, the two connected on every subject you can imagine. “Philosophy, politics. We went all over the map. We even talked about the things considered taboo,” she added.
D’Antonio said they talked…
