WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. (KATU) -- The game went from fun to frightening for Judy Crawford. The Washington County, Oregon, woman still continues to play as she sits comfortably on her couch with her phone in-hand.

The 75-year-old woman is shuffling through letter tiles as game sounds and tones ring out through her living room. She's playing Words with Friends, {/em}the popular online word puzzle game where she can connect with friends and players near and far.

"It's just, I entertain myself," she said with a chuckle.

But there was one connection she trusted more than the rest after eight or nine months of game-play and chatting.

"$137,000," Crawford said with a long pause, when asked how much she had given this other player. "And it was always, 'I’m going to pay you back I’ll pay you back with interest.' I was raised to trust and not to lie. I trusted this person and I never gave it a thought that he was taking me. I really truly didn’t."

"PERSON - UNIDENTIFIED SUSPECT #1"{/h2}
His name was David Age. At least, that's what the player said his name was. He sent a photo of himself to Judy, likely a stock photo of someone else that was found on the internet, she told KATU News{/em}. He claimed to be from Milan, Italy, and was allegedly working on an oil rig near Texas.
"That’s who he said he was and he was very good about sending pictures of the rigs, him, and the crew," Crawford explained.
She said they first matched and started playing Words with Friends in January 2018. Whoever was really on the other end of that game, their messages, and eventual phone calls, made Judy a mark from information she had posted willingly.
"That man probably knew more about me than I knew about me from Facebook. He knew I was a widow, he knew I had kids, he could tell about how old I was. Loneliness came into it and he picked up on all of that and I was fair game."
Crawford said that a romantic connection was built. David Age started asking for financial help one month later when they started messaging more often. It was a little money at first that eventually added up over time.
"Looking back, in reality, why something didn’t click with me I’m not sure," Crawford said.
{/blockquote}
It took her about nine months to report the alleged fraud scheme to the Washington County Sheriff's Office in September 2018.
"After several weeks, 'David Age' asked for an iTunes gift card so he could talk to his kids on the phone. Crawford purchased iTunes gift cards and provided the card numbers to him. The demands for money progressed from there, and she sent him various gift cards and money through bank wire transfers. In the end, Crawford went through all the money in her savings and bank accounts. 'David Age' then demanded that she sell her house and jewelry for more money to send him. Crawford's friends told her it was a scam from the beginning, but she didn't believe it until he demanded she sell her house," stated the police report from Washington County Sheriff's detectives.
David Age is listed as "Person - Unidentified Suspect #1" in the Washington County Sheriff's Office report, saying his speech is "accent, foreign."
ROMANCE SCAM REALITY{/h2}
"Everything that I had saved over 50 years, it was gone," Judy said. "I went along with that. But I lied. I lied to my friends, I lied to my kids, I lied to my daughter and she thought something was going on. So I was deceitful. So that was one of the hardest things for me. Being betrayed."
Washington County Sheriff's Detective Patrick Altiere helped investigate Crawford's case. He told KATU News {/em}that he is stunned by the sizable amount of money that con artists are able to anonymously extract from their victims.
"The money they’re giving them is not being stolen from them, it’s not being hacked out of their accounts, it’s being transferred willingly," Det. Altiere said.
In fact, the Federal Trade Commission reports that it is seeing more and more romance scam victims, including Judy. More than 21,000 Americans reported falling for romantic financial schemes in 2018, more than any other type of consumer fraud in terms of total reported losses, totaling $143 million in 2018.
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"Looking back, in reality, why something didn’t click with me I’m not sure," Crawford said.
What safety steps can you take? Det. Altiere said it's simple: If the person on the other end of the game or phone line wants money and they can't meet you in person, even within a couple weeks, it's likely a bad deal.
"If I just came up to you on the street and asked for $500 would you give me $500? No," Det. Altiere said. "Anybody you haven’t met in person, that should be the first red flag."
"BAD GUYS ARE OUT THERE"{/h2}
KATU News {/em}examined the company that operates the Words with Friends{/em} game: Zynga{/em}.
On the security page of its website, Zynga {/em}admits the business and game platforms have problems with fakers. There's a full page dedicated on its site with ways to spot a possible hustle under a banner that says "Bad guys are out there."
"It is very easy to be completely anonymous online," Det. Altiere said.
In Crawford's case, the suspect went to great lengths to keep the scam going by sending Judy a gift.
In a photo provided by the Washington County Sheriff's Office, the suspect sent Judy a custom blanket that was made with both her and his alleged pictures on it. The collage-style blanket includes a picture of Judy alongside alleged photos of David Age and his supposed children.
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Detectives said it is likely the photos were taken from a publicly available website and passed off as legitimate family photos.
"These [victims] think they know these people because they get pictures, because they get items sent to them that have return addresses on it - things that seem like personal items. But they are ultimately not. They are ultimately made up. They are part of the scam," Det. Altiere explained. "Because for one of these people to spend a couple hundred bucks having an item fabricated is nothing compared to what they’re getting when they’re getting over $100,000 or $200,000 from a victim."
LACK OF TANGIBLE LEADS{/h2}
The police report of Crawford's case paints a harsh reality.
Detectives say Judy's case has gone cold and that it's "INACTIVE / SUSPENDED" because there are a "LACK OF TANGIBLE LEADS."
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"We can’t investigate these cases. That’s one of the problems with these cases is the money is gone," Det. Altiere said. "There is no suspect. They’re almost all foreign nationals. The money goes through two or three different accounts. By the time we even know the case exists the money is off-shore. We’re not getting it back. Nobody is going to jail. The only way to stop these things is for people to stop giving the money."
According to the case report, Crawford said David Age was demanding money because he said he needed money for food on the oil rig and to get machinery fixed. When she refused to send money, the suspect would tell Crawford she must not really love him and would stop responding to her messages until she sent the money. "One time, he sent her a video of an oil rig accident, and said that almost happened to him in order to get here to send money to fix the machinery," the report stated.
"I never gave it a thought that he was taking me. I really truly didn’t," Crawford told KATU News{/em}.
It was all fun and games until Judy lost her faith in love and her money.
"I just hope the worst that can happen to him happens. I think he’s evil. I came in contact with evil," Crawford said. "I will never be who I was. I will never be. I have no trust."