A Georgia truck driver says that he was recently tricked out of tens of thousands of dollars by a woman he met on online.
Earlier this month, an unidentified truck driver in his 50’s reported to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office that he had been duped out of $26,000 by a woman that he had never met or even spoken to on the phone.
The truck driver said it all began a couple of months ago when he met a woman who called herself “Evelyn” online at a time when he was having trouble in his marriage. “I was alone in the truck and I had time to write up messages with the woman,” he explained to the Athens Banner-Herald.
While he never met or spoke to “Evelyn” over the phone, the truck driver said that she sent a photo “of her whole body” and that she was a very beautiful woman.
Through a series of messages on Google Chat, “Evelyn” convinced the truck driver that she was a member of the military stationed in Yemen to fight terrorists and that the only way that she could be released from her service would be to find someone who was willing to marry her.
“Evelyn” even made plans with the truck driver on how she would enter the trucking industry with him once she entered the U.S. “She said will you teach me how to drive the truck. I’ve got a lot of money. I can buy a truck and we can build up a company together. I want to ride with you,” the truck driver recalled.
Eventually, “Evelyn” convinced the truck driver to send her more than $8300 for a plane ticket. The very next day, she told him that there were no domestic flights available from her location because of terrorist activities and that she needed a private plane, which the truck driver once again paid for — to the tune of over $17,600.
“Evelyn” was scheduled to arrive in Atlanta just before 8 a.m. on November 27, but when the truck driver arrived to meet her, she was nowhere to be found.
Airport personnel told the truck driver that he had likely been scammed.
The truck driver did hear from “Evelyn” again when she called to stay that she was stuck at an airport in Saudi Arabia. However, when the truck driver accused her of fraud, she threatened to sue him.
“It is what it is,” the trucker said of the scam.