Woman conned out of $72,000 by man she ‘instantly had chemistry with’ on dating app

A woman is taking legal action after a man she called her boyfriend was able to scam her out of thousands of dollars.

Christina LaBarbiera, a realtor from New Jersey, warned women against love bombing after telling her story of how she was scammed out of $72,000.

This really does put things into perspective, as I was frustrated with myself the other day for losing $20.

Speaking to the New York Post, she said she met her ex-boyfriend on the popular dating app Hinge - and instantly hit it off.

She claimed that he ‘swindled’ her out of her life savings, and she is now taking legal action against him. Her former partner, Rob Harris, has not yet responded to the suit against him.

LaBarbiera said that she met Harris last April, and as he also worked in real estate, the pair had plenty to talk about when they did meet.

According to her, the chemistry was instant and the pair had even talked about moving to Miami together to live in a condo. However, upon reflection, she now realises that he love-bombed her.

Christina LaBarbiera

For those out of the loop, love bombing is essentially lavishing someone with attention and affection in the hopes of eventually being able to manipulate them.

She alleges that he got her to let her guard down by seeming genuine and by talking about his personal health issues.

LaBarbiera stated: “He came off as a very sweet, nurturing guy. When I met him in person I was like, “He’s not just good on the phone, over text, he’s handsome and we have good conversation.”

However, things ended up taking a turn when he began asking for money.

“On August 10, he asked me to Venmo him $501 to test if his Venmo works and promised to repay me,” she explained.

“On August, 21 he asked me for $1,310 to pay for a yacht charter and a restaurant, to help him build a real estate network in Miami, which isn’t out of the ordinary to spend on marketing.

“Then, he asked me for $5,000 for an Airbnb and said he would pay me back – he even sent me his bank statement showing $720,000. He promised to give me $10,000 in cash the next time we saw each other.”

Christina LaBarbiera

He eventually created an elaborate story involving an ex-partner that he used to live with and that, due to an issue not being resolved, he was arrested and needed bail money... you can guess where this is going.

After receiving a text from him, she said: “‘Why do you still have your phone? What do I do?’ He said he needed bail. He asked me for $12,000. I wired him the money.”

Eventually, LaBarbiera went to the police when things weren’t clicking. As it turns out, he was never arrested and the money went to the aforementioned AirBnb.

Authorities told her that Harris had committed credit card fraud previously, and that he had even been dating another girl from New Jersey during the time they were dating.

Since then, Labarbiera has sworn off dating apps and has tried meeting people organically or through friends.