Woman posing as military member on dating site scams person out of $7,500, NC cops say
A woman is accused of lying about being in the military on a dating site to scam a user out of thousands of dollars.
Jo Ann Burkey, 63 of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, told the victim who she met on the site that she was a member of the military and needed money to ship her belongings home from overseas, according to the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office.
The person sent her $7,500, the sheriff’s office says.
The sheriff’s office says it “took a report of fraud” about the scam on Jan. 29 and, after investigating, accused Burkey of being behind the scam and using a fake name.
Burkey “surrendered to detectives” at the Pitt County detention center on Thursday, the sheriff’s office says.
She was charged with “accessing a computer to defraud or obtain property,” “obtain property by false pretense” and “attempt to obtain property by false pretense.”
Burkey was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond, the sheriff’s office says.
No other information about the case was released as of Monday.
Pitt County is in Eastern North Carolina, about 82 miles from Raleigh.
This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Woman posing as military member on dating site scams person out of $7,500, NC cops say."
