When 61-year-old Jan Marshall signed up to an online dating website called Plenty of Fish, she put up her personal details and where she works, and quickly she was matched to a ‘British’ man — Eamon Donegal Dubhlainn — who claimed he worked as an Engineer in the United States In a few months, after consistent communication through email, phone and instant messenger (though they never had any video chat), she fell in love with him. He proposed marriage and she accepted.

And then she began sending him money through his bank account after he claimed he was trapped in Dubai and couldn’t pay his taxes. he said he would pay her back, but he never did. Next he was asking for more to buy materials, all of which she sent through Western Union. Though the platform had a limit of $10,000 per transaction, she sent in multiples of ten, like when she sent him $40,000.

Once he had claimed he was on his way to the airport, to travel and see her, but he had a car accident. She received forged emails and bills from doctors and nurses who claimed they were treating him, and she paid all the bills. She would later realise the scam after she had sent him about $350,000.

Through investigations, Australian authorities found out that Eamon Donegal Dubhlainn does not exist, that the picture was stolen off the internet, and that the $350,000 actually was transferred to Nigeria. The fraud was traced to a 419 ring in Nigeria.

For Jan, who still owes Australian government about $76,000 in taxes incurred from all the funds she sent to the scammer, she is heartbroken.

“It has left me in a lot of strife,” she told Daily Mail. “I gave him money from my pay, I had to borrow money to get through that first month, I closed down a lot of discretionary spending and I am still in strife in credit card and tax office debt.”