Desperate woman sends $1.4 million to online lover she has never met
They say love is blind, but in the case of a US woman who has sent $1.4 million to a man she has never met, love seems to have completely overwhelmed all good sense.
Sarah, who appears on an upcoming episode of Dr Phil, says she first met a man called Chris Olsen 18 months ago on an online dating service.
Chris, a businessman working in Africa, soon declared his love for the twice-divorced Sarah, referring to her as his “flower” and “Mrs Olsen”.
But the path to happiness proved rocky as Chris was arrested numerous times and prevented from returning home after running into trouble with the government in the African nation of Benin.
Determined to help her new love, Sarah sold her apartment for $500,000 and wired the money to Chris to pay his bail.
Despite the story reading like a warning in the How to Avoid a Dating Scam handbook, Sarah remains “95 per cent sure” Chris is telling the truth.
“He assured me that when he gets home he’s going to pay me back every dime.”
She says so far she has sent Chris $US1.4 million to pay bail money and bills and has turned to Dr Phil in the hope he can unite them on his show.
Sarah believes Chris is an Italian widower originally from Milan who moved to the US almost 20 year ago. When they met online, he told her he was working in South Africa. A few months later he moved to Benin with his two daughters.
Sarah said Chris is desperate to return “home” to the US but has had trouble with the Benin government including being falsely arrested for money laundering.
On top of the half million in bail money, Sarah has paid hotel bills lawyers, visa bills, nanny bills and money for stolen credit cards.
Reminiscing about their first meeting online Sarah says she was flattered by the attention.
“I thought ‘wow, this guy is really handsome, I can’t believe he’s talking to me.’
“Chris has a way with words. He’ll say ‘how is my queen doing today’
“He’s very poetic when he talks to me.
The pair talk almost every day on the phone although Sarah admits that during the time she has known Chris his voice has changed. He sounded Italian when they first spoke but she believes his voice has changed because he has spent so much time with locals in Benin.
“I still believe in love”.
Story adopted from news.com.ug
