Two Florida men have been charged in New Jersey with swindling at least $2.7 million from mostly elderly victims through romance scams and other internet fraud.
None of the victims mentioned in court papers are from New Jersey, though wire transfers processed through the FedWire funds service included requests that travelled through a Federal Reserve facility in the state, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey said Monday.
Federal prosecutors charged Marlin Perra, 63, of Lake Panasoffkee and Leslie Lallande, 65, of Pompano Beach with one count each of money laundering conspiracy. Both were arrested Monday in Florida.
The pair used romance scams in which they met their alleged victims through dating websites or social media sites, including Facebook, and pretended to be romantically interested in them, according to the criminal complaint. Then, they would allegedly try to get the victims to send them money.
In an example provided in court papers, a person from Texas sent the alleged fraudsters more than $150,000 in the summer of 2020 after being tricked into believing a man who referred to himself as “Damen” lost his wallet and credit cards while traveling abroad. “Damen” contacted the victim on Facebook Messenger, prosecutors said.
Another victim — a Mississippi resident — was duped into thinking “Patricia Beckett” was converting her home into an orphanage, the court papers said. The victim sent the alleged fraudster at least $115,000 to cover construction costs in 2019.
The two Florida men tried to hide money stolen from romance scam victims by claiming they owned businesses which bought and shipped used cars, the court papers said. The conmen prepared fraudulent agreements that they said were signed by their victims after they agreed to invest in the alleged automobile business, officials said.
“In fact, these agreements were phony cover stories designed to paper over their receipt and movement of the romance scam proceeds,” prosecutors said.
Other victims included a retired teacher who owned a small business in Florida and residents of Colorado and Oregon, who also fell prey to the romance scams, authorities said.
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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com.
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