HELP WIDOW WHO LOST LIFE SAVINGS TO ROMANCE SCAM
Donation protected
My dear friend of fifteen years, Lois “Moe” Lenart Malcolm, was defrauded of the entirety of her life savings, totaling $406,610.00, in an online “romance scam” that cruelly preyed upon her emotional vulnerabilities as a recent widow. Moe is 70 years old and retired, with her sole income presently being Social Security benefits.
In 2021, Moe unexpectedly lost her dearly beloved husband/partner of fourteen years, Philip Malcolm. This devastating loss was preceded by the untimely death of Moe’s daughter, Cori, who was only thirty-two. Philip and Cori are pictured with Moe above.
Lonely and still navigating her compounded grief, Moe created a profile on a “golden” dating website in the hopes of finding a new friend/companion. There, she met a man who represented himself as “Joel”, also a widower. They quickly hit it off.
The intricate trap set for Moe eerily mirrors the victims’ recollections in the Netflix documentary “The Tinder Swindler”. “Joel” represented himself as being involved in the diamond industry, frequently traveling overseas for business. He only communicated via email or the messaging/phone app Telegram, and his travels precluded them from ever meeting in person. Notwithstanding, they spoke near daily, and planned a future together, which future included jointly purchasing a property in Florida. “Joel” even sent a teddy bear, a watch and flowers to Moe’s home. Moe was elated and over-the-moon in her new relationship with “Joel”.
“Joel” then began requesting that Moe send him funds under a series of manufactured exigent circumstances, such as him being away on business overseas and having his debit card “locked” for failure to inform his bank in advance of travel; he also claimed to have been falsely arrested, detained and in need of funds for bond and attorney’s fees. Most egregiously, he alleged to have been held in captivity in a war zone, requiring funds to pay-off various persons towards securing his escape to the United States via smuggling.
Under these false pretenses, Moe sent “Joel” a series of wire transfers and money orders to the persons and entities as directed by “Joel” and/or his associates in late 2021 and 2022. These payments totaled $320,500.00. She also sent him an additional $86,110.00 in cryptocurrencies. Needless to say, “Joel” fell off the face of the earth after Moe was financially exhausted.
Due to Moe having withdrawn money from tax-sheltered accounts towards paying these scam artist(s), she is now indebted to the IRS to the tune of approximately $20,000.00. She has also been informed that her monthly Social Security benefits are being reduced, as the withdrawals massively increased her taxable income for 2022.
Moe has expressed that she feels embarrassed, ashamed, and guilty over what has transpired. She did not disclose her victimization and the extent of her financial losses to me until this week. It was heartbreaking to me that she had been sitting on this burden alone in shame and secrecy.
While I was unsure if Moe would be amenable to allowing me to create a GoFundMe in her name, as she is a prideful person, she stressed that it is of the utmost importance to her that awareness be spread on the issue of online romance scams. I therefore encourage anyone reading this to please share this post to spread Moe’s story, even if you are unable to donate. If you are able to donate, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. No amount is too insignificant.
Resources & Education:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2023/02/romance-scammers-favorite-lies-exposed
Organizer and beneficiary
Amy Stutzke
Organizer
Toms River, NJ
Lois Lenart
Beneficiary