It’s a trap: Man ‘shocked’ to be scammed out of $200,000 by Internet girlfriend

It's like the film "You've Got Mail" except Meg Ryan plays a Nigerian con artist.

A man in Naperville, Illinois reported to police that he believed his online girlfriend of two and a half years had been kidnapped in London, and that he had wired her $200,000 to pay her ransom.  After a brief investigation, the man was ‘in disbelief’ to discover that the woman never existed.

The Internet girlfriend reportedly proved her existence by showing the man a Florida ID card, but as it turns out, it was merely a sample ID card made publicly available by the state.

While I feel badly for the loss of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, most likely to Nigerian phishers, tried-and-true wisdom never fails here: The fool and his money are quickly parted.  [Source; Image]