Westlake Woman Scammed Out Of $50,000

WESTLAKE, OH — A Westlake woman was swindled out of $50,000 via an online dating scam, police said. Investigators are now trying to identify the woman's scammer.

According to police, the woman came to police last week and said she had victimized by a scam artist. The woman met a man on the website Match.com in July 2018. The pair began talking via messaging services, phone calls, emails and text messages.

After a month of conversations, the man said he was stuck overseas and his bank accounts were frozen. He begged the woman to send him money and over the next seven months she gave him a huge amount of cash.

The woman transferred more than $50,000 to various accounts belonging to the man. He promised to pay her back in full.

Westlake police took the woman's report and are now trying to identify the man. Everything the man told the woman about his identity was a lie though, police said.