Woman says she was duped by fake military scammer from Nigeria

Cris Maxson has never been in trouble with the law, but now she sits in the Tarrant County Jail accused of grand theft.

"I didn't think that I did anything wrong," she said. Maxson says her troubles began when she met a man on Facebook. WFAA has decided not to show his picture or identify him because we can't confirm his real name and image. Maxson said the man told her he was a Marine stationed overseas. Slowly, she fell in love.
"He even asked me to marry him, and I agreed," she said. Then, he asked her to help him out financially. He sent her some money orders claiming it was money that friends owed him. He asked her to deposit the money orders in her account, then wire the money to him overseas.

"I sent them to where he told me to send them to where he was at," she said. "At that time he told me he was going to Nigeria."

But the money orders — totaling $900 — were fake. The bank pursued grant theft charges.
A warrant was issued for Maxson out of California. She was arrested on Dec. 17. She is waiting for California to extradite her to stand trial.

Maxson said she is heartbroken that it was all a scam.
"When my sister told me, I couldn't believe it," she said. "It made me feel stupid, foolish."

When we Googled Maxson's alleged suitor, we found that a person using his same name had been involved in other scams.

This is a common scheme. We even found a Facebook page dedicated to posting these types of scams.

Better Business Bureau spokeswoman Phylissia Landiz said they've seen this happen all too often.
"Honestly if they send you a check, the highest possibility is that it's not a real check at all," she said.





The scammers are hard to find because they often operate from other countries and use Facebook photos of real military service personnel who have no idea their pictures are being used.


Maxson said she wishes she had made different choices, but insists that the only thing she is guilty of is being naive.