A 47-year-old man has pleaded guilty to tricking women out of $360k by pretending to be an oil tycoon online.
John Edward Taylor, 46, “trolled dating websites to find unsuspecting women for his ‘romance’ scam, designed to steal their money,” the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office alleged.
Taylor used sites like Match.com, eHarmony, SeekingArrangement and Craigslist to perpetrate his scams, saying he was a wealthly businessman with oil and land interests in North Dakota.
In total, he pocketed over $360,000 from his victims between September 2009 and March 2016.
And this Tuesday, Taylor admitted to his crimes, telling the Manhattan court: “I told them that I was something that I wasn’t.
“I lied to these women as a part of a scheme to defraud them and duped them into giving me their bank account information.”
The 46-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and threatening interstate communications in relation to his fraudulent scheme.
He faces a maximum of 32 years behind bars, but prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 51 to 63 months in jail.
Taylor will be sentenced on 4th January.