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Singapore Woman Sentenced In Online Love Scam

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 21, 2007

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Looking for love on the Internet? Millions do, despite the risks of a broken heart and empty bank account.

A case in point is 36-year old Maliah Pamu of Singapore, sentenced this week for fleecing Bharani Indran, an Indian national living in the U.S., out of $45,000.

Pamu is said to have struck up a relationship with the man in a chat room. Even though she is married, she professed her love and promised to marry the man, according to the Straits Times, which reported on her trial.

According to testimony, she used a fake name and supplied photographs of Indian actress Gayatri Joshi, claiming they were of her. Somewhere along the way, she asked her new Internet fiancé for $45,000 – ostensibly to pay her mother's funeral expenses and wedding expenses for a friend.

He paid it but filed a police report after she asked for more money.

According to the Times, Pamu's husband claimed to be in the dark about his wife's online scamming, but professed little sympathy for her victim. According to the newspaper, he said no sensible man would send so much money to a woman without seeing her in person first.

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