LaPorte Woman Loses Nearly $2000 in Internet Scam

  
 

A LaPorte woman fell victim to an internet scam and lost nearly $2,000 in the process.

The victim told LaPorte police that she met a man on the “Zoosk” dating website who identified himself as “John Douglas Frank.” In early July, the suspect advised the victim he was moving to South Africa for a job and asked the victim for money to send his friend and she would be reimbursed. The victim sent two Paypal cards and three Western Union money orders totaling $1,985 to a “Darren Foster” in Florida.

Over the past few weeks, four boxes of clothing was sent to her home and “Douglas” then requested that the victim forward the packages to him in Africa.

The victim then received a phone call from someone claiming to be from a Florida agency notifying her of a warrant for her arrest. She provided the caller with her Social Security number so the suspect could refund her money.

The victim was later advised that this was an internet scam and that the clothing sent to her had been purchased with stolen credit cards.

Officers from the LaPorte City Police Department urge you not to give out personal banking information over the phone or the internet.