Location: Pennsylvania
Back in March I started watching a girl I went to high school with on TikTok live. We started flirting on the app then moved to text. She told me that she was in a very abusive relationship and was saving up money to get out. For the past few months we were talking and flirting and making plans for once she was safe and free, and I would send her money to help her with important things to secure her safety.
She told me that she had custody court coming up back on July 7th and needed money to secure her lawyer for the case. Her “lawyer” called me a few times to a week before the date to try and collect payment in order for her to represent her the day off and made it sound very urgent. I paid that and then the lawyer called again to collect a down payment for a YWCA supplied apartment for her.
After the court date came and went she vanished for a few days and I hadn’t herd anything from her until this past Friday she messaged me saying her abuser put her in the hospital after court and stole everything she owned from her new apartment. This is where I started to question things as she said he was arrested for putting her in the hospital but then somehow was able to break into her new apartment and steal everything.
I started looking into thing and the only court case I can find under either of there names is one under her name for driving without a license and an accident. This court date was the same day as her supposed custody case and according to the docket she pled guilty and is now on probation for 12 months. When I searched up her abusers name his Facebook came up and he had made a post about going to a local amusement park and it being to hot and she reacted to the chat. This was the same day he supposedly got out of jail on bail. I then looked up the lawyers name on the PA Bar website and no results are found. When I searched the phone number on Google it brought up her best friends name as the owner of the phone line.
I have all of our text logs, all the texts between me and her “lawyer”, three voicemails from said “lawyer” where she said she needed the payment to represent her, and screenshots of the Facebook post. Does it sound like this is a Romance Scam and is there any recourse for me?
Edit:) Forgot to add, we did meet up one time and she almost broke down crying in my arms so I do know she is at least really the girl I went to High School with
Apologies if any formatting is incorrect this is my first major post
TLDR: Think I got romance scammed by a girl I went to high school with and don’t know what I can do.
Comments
How did you pay the “lawyer”? Was there an invoice?
Have you filed a police report?
Did this person say they were a lawyer when they aren’t?
How much money did you give her?
Yes fraud is a legitimate cause of action in a civil case. You would need a lawyer and evidence to prove the fraud.
Suing someone takes time and money so it may depend on how much you lost and the likelihood that you can even collect any judgement.
If someone is claiming to be a lawyer and is not, that is a crime and can be up to a third degree felony (in my state of Texas). Your first course of action is to call the police and report the fraud, and the. Call your state bar and file a complaint against the number claiming to be the lawyer.
Hmmm… if she’s on probation I’d think you can get her tossed in jail pretty easily if you have proof (like text messages and info about the court dates). Or take her ass to small claims court and THEN let her probation officer know.
Do a free consult with a lawyer. The juice might not be worth the squeeze if she is insolvent but could be worth it if anything for the principle.