Guy sues OKCupid over $70K he lent someone he never met
A 65-year-old man is trying to blame OKCupid's lax screening process for costing him $70,000 that he lent to a COMPLETE STRANGER THAT HE MET THROUGH AN ONLINE DATING SITE. Michael Picciano says that he was messaging with "Bruce Thompson" in February of last year. Shortly thereafter, Picciano and "genuineguy42" were talking on the phone, using Skype, and emailing back and forth through their personal accounts.
A 65-year-old man is trying to blame OKCupid's lax screening process for costing him $70,000 that he lent to a COMPLETE STRANGER THAT HE MET THROUGH AN ONLINE DATING SITE. Michael Picciano says that he was messaging with "Bruce Thompson" in February of last year. Shortly thereafter, Picciano and "genuineguy42" were talking on the phone, using Skype, and emailing back and forth through their personal accounts.
Then, "Thompson" hit his new online companion up for some help with interesting and lucrative investment opportunities.
Picciano says he "felt comfortable" with his new beau and readily agreed to wire Thompson $24,000 "for unexpected fees he incurred in his dealings setting up a new computer parts business" — even though the instructions required him to send the money to a "Dennis E. Racer" in Addison, Texas, and an "Edmond Thebeau" in Canada.
Then in April, Picciano, perhaps blinded by his newfound love, sent yet another payment of $46,420 at Thompson's request to "MacBenson and Associates" in the UK through his Capital One bank account, the suit says.
He might as well have given it to a Nigerian prince, though, because "Thompson" was in the wind. Picciano used malescammers.com and the help of a friend to recognize that he had been conned. Now, he wants to OKCupid to fix it and intensify its screening process.
He wants to recoup the money he lost in the swindle.
He is also suing his bank, Capital One, for failing "to comply with proper procedures for the transmission of wire funds." [New York Post]