Joan Romano thought she had been assisting a soldier that is handsome need.

June 22, 2011 — Match.com, one of many nation’s most well known dating internet sites, takes credit for “more relationships and much more marriages than some other web web site. ” However every connection made on Match.com has a fairytale ending — and Joan Romano unearthed that out of the way that is hard.

Romano, 53, from Lynbrook, N.Y., a busy and divorced woman that is single stated that she did not have time to head out and meet people. Regarding the advice of buddies, she joined up with Match.com. She quickly found by herself chatting on the web with a guy known as “Austin Miller. ” Miller identified himself being a embellished soldier situated in Kabul, Afghanistan. Whenever Miller delivered her a photo of himself in uniform, Romano ended up being impressed.

She thought, “Wow, we hit the jackpot. (he had been) a guy that is nice-looking” Romano stated. “I’m like, this might be too advisable that you be real. “

As Romano and Miller remained in contact, Romano discovered by herself dropping “deeper and deeper” to the relationship that is online. Whenever Miller asked for a laptop that is new she had been wanting to assist a soldier in need of assistance.

“we have always been really patriotic and I also worked in the World Trade focus on 9/11, ” she stated. “therefore in my experience, if it is for the soldier to greatly help, we’ll do whatever we can. “

The laptop computer are priced at her $1,000. Miller instructed Romano to deliver it through FedEx to Ghana. Romano stated she ended up being only a little suspicious for the mailing target — Ghana is just a continent far from Afghanistan — but Miller shared with her that a guy in Ghana would eventually deliver the laptop computer to him.

Romano’s generosity towards the “soldier” did not end there: She delivered him a complete of $25,000 in just a time that is six-month before realizing that she had dropped target to a scammer.

“Everyone can develop their own viewpoint, but you may never understand until it occurs for your requirements. And unfortuitously, it simply happened for me, ” she stated.

To carry some closure to Romano’s tale, “20/20″ posted the image that “Austin Miller” sent Romano on the web and now we asked watchers to aid us find him. We received a lot more than one hundred reactions in only a matter of four hours, and another regarding the messages led us to the solution. Angie Gordon, a audience type Northern Virginia, picked through to a clue that is subtle.

“I became in a position to inform which branch he had been connected to into the Army plus it kind of narrows the industry, ” she stated.

With Gordon’s information, “20/20″ surely could track along the man into the image. His real title had been Jeffrey Miller and we also found him during the Wainwright Army Base in Fairbanks, Alaska. He had been a lieutenant into the U.S. Army whose identification had been taken, next to MySpace, and ended up being pretty much to be implemented for a tour that is second Afghanistan.

Miller ended up being surprised to discover that somebody had evidently been making use of their photo to operate a fraud.

“It is a pity, it really is disgusting, that even someone may even as little as to betray a U.S. Soldier and utilize that as a justification to make use of these females or anyone for instance, ” he stated.

To assist Romano find her scammer somewhere in Ghana, “20/20″ asked her to deliver one last e-mail to the alleged “Austin Miller. ” With an arrangements that are few a “20/20″ undercover producer in Ghana, we monitored down her scammer. He admitted to your undercover producer in his scam that he was a conman and even tried to convince him to join him.

“we could also wake up to $15,000 to $20,000 more he told our producer from her.

The FBI stated it gets tens and thousands of complaints a year from individuals like Romano, who’ve been scammed by individuals they meet on online dating web sites.

Greg Blatt, the CEO associated with the moms and dad company that owns Match.com, said your website has invested vast amounts to guard its people. Significantly less than one 1 / 2 of one % of the customers have ever reported a profile that is debateable, he stated, however when they are doing, the pages are obstructed within couple of hours, taken out of your website and investigated. Match.com’s security recommendations.

“We do everything we could to ensure it is because safe as you are able to, ” Blatt stated. ” at the conclusion associated with time, we additionally realize that, that the majority of it rests in the possession of of the people by themselves to prevent this kind of thing, and we try everything we are able to to assist them. “

How could you keep yourself protected from getting scammed on online sites that are dating? On line dating guidelines from cybersecurity specialist Hemanshu Nigam.