Police: Man scammed in phony Valentine’s Day kidnapping story

PORTSMOUTH — A Portsmouth man who thought his Valentine’s Day date had been kidnapped was actually the victim of an internet scam, police said.

On the afternoon of Feb. 14, the 40-year-old man came into the police station to report that a woman he was supposed to have met off the bus from New York was possibly the victim of a kidnapping.

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About four weeks earlier, the man said he met the woman, whom he knew as Evelyn Sanchez from Brooklyn, N.Y., on the dating website Match.com. 

During this time, police said, the man communicated with the woman only through that website, Google Hangouts — a web platform that provides instant messaging, video chat and other features — or e-mail. He did not have her phone number and spoke with her only when she contacted him, police said.

He also sent her money.

“Over the course of the last four weeks the victim has sent multiple Western Union money orders to the suspect in the total of $900,” police stated in their report. The money orders were obtained at Stop & Shop in Middletown but the location of where they were cashed was unknown, police said.

The victim then sent the woman a bus ticket to travel here Feb. 14, but she never arrived at the appointed time and place, police said. 

“At this time, the victim attempted to contact the suspect to see what happened and then began getting text messages via (Google) Hangouts that the suspect had been kidnapped and that they were requesting more money from the victim,” the police report stated. The messages were in “poor English and grammatically incorrect,” police noted.

In addition, the man also received a photo of the “kidnapped” female, completely bound in duct tape. Using a reverse image search on Google, however, police determined that the same photograph had been posted on the internet on several occasions dating back to 2013. 

Police told the man to stop sending money and ask Western Union for copies of his transactions, along with the history to determine where the money was picked up.