I accepted handsome stranger’s LinkedIn request & it cost me £640k– 8 red flags I missed as he blindsided me

RETURNING home from a work trip to Paris, single mum Anola Johnson switched on her laptop. As she opened her LinkedIn account, she saw a request from a handsome stranger. Little did she know that within weeks, he would completely upend her life and leave her fighting for everything she owns. Anola Johnson thought she had found true love Credit: Kennedy News Anola claims she was conned by a crypto conman Credit: Kennedy News Anola, 69, had been single for around 30 years when she got a LinkedIn add and “hello” message from attractive oil rig worker Pedro. They soon went from chatting on LinkedIn to exchanging numbers and texting every day. “He looked professional and was cute with a great smile,” Anola, from near Salt Lake City, Utah, says. Pedro told Anola that he worked as a freelance engineering supervisor for oil rig companies and that he’d been born in Spain. “He told me both his parents died in a car crash when he was 14, so he was raised by his aunt Judy. “He said his wife died about five years earlier from cancer, and he was living in San Diego and had one son who went to school in Texas,” she adds. Within weeks, Pedro, who said he was in his 50s, declared his love for her via text message. “He was sending love bombs daily,” Anola says. “I wasn’t actively looking for a partner, but the hope was always there that I would find somebody. “He was always very kind and nice, very genuine; I thought I was infatuated with him. “I told him that I loved him. I thought ‘this Prince Charming had fallen onto my lap’.” In April 2023, a month after Anola had accepted his request, the pair arranged to meet – however, Pedro pulled out at the last minute. “A few days before that, he received a job offer from one of the oil companies he applied to and had to leave immediately. “I was disappointed, but he said he would only be gone for a month or two,” she says. At this point, Anola hadn’t told any of her friends or family about Pedro, and they’d only spoken via text. Soon after, Pedro suggested they open a joint account for a cryptocurrency investment. The mum-of-two was initially sceptical, but eventually agreed when he showed her his bank account, which showed a balance of $4 million (£3million). She then deposited $50,000 (£37,000) into the account and was promised a high return. “I was uncomfortable, but still wanting to please because it was a new relationship,” she says. “At first I did push back a bit, but with him creating more trust and love-bombing, I just thought ‘this will be for trips we want to go on’. He convinced me that it would be lucrative. “One day, he texted me to say his internet was really slow and would I do him a favour. “He wanted me to get into his bank account and do a wire transfer for him. I was happy to help, curious to see how much money was in the account. “He provided all the login information, and I was able to see that he had more than $4million in this account. This made me feel like everything was legitimate. “He walked me through the transfer, and over the next several days I helped him complete additional wires.” Anola thought he was legit when she saw the $4million balance Credit: Kennedy News She’s provided screenshots of messages she sent to the conman Credit: Kennedy News But Pedro’s requests for money didn’t stop there. He soon began requesting that Anola transfer money for work-related matters, despite telling her he was earning $500,000 (£378,000) a year. Within six months, Anola says she lost her “logical brain” and ended up sending her new beau around $850,000 (£640,000) in total. After the initial $50,000 transfer – which Anola paid from her savings – Pedro then asked for a $100,000 (£75,000) loan to send to his supplier in Singapore. He promised she would be paid back within a month. She then borrowed $350,000 (£260,000) against the value of her house with a home equity line of credit. Anola also racked up credit card debt of $25,000 (£18,690) buying presents for Pedro’s son – including a new iPhone. “He kept inventing more reasons he needed more money, more reasons for his delay in returning. “Sometimes there were things that didn’t seem right. Pedro kept coming up with explanations for why he needed the money, including paying his suppliers, materials, and shipping. Anola was head over heels in love with Pedro – before discovering the truth Credit: Kennedy News Throughout their relationship, Anola had spoken with Pedro just three times over the phone Credit: Kennedy News While Anola thought it was strange that the company wasn’t paying that, she tended to brush it off, and hadn’t spoken to her friends of family about the new romance. “I would just stifle my own intuition and go with whatever he was saying; I was not in my logical brain. “I didn’t think this would be long-term, but he kept having more issues. “I had to go into my bank and up my home equity line of credit, and they said I could borrow £262,000 ($350,000), which was 80 per cent of the value of my home. “I sent him all that money. After this, I started on credit cards, $25,000 in credit card debt and sending him gift cards and money from my pay cheque as well. “I didn’t get anything back despite him telling me he would. It was only when Anola received a call from an investigating officer from the US Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General to say a Christmas present she’d sent to Pedro’s son in Texas was being diverted to Nigeria that alarm bells began to ring. She says: “He told me they were working on a separate case and had raided the address that I sent the package to. “It was at this moment when my fantasy world came crashing down in flames. Every red flag I ignored to my own peril, every cent I had, was gone. “That kind of woke me up; there was no more denying it. I thought he would come home and pay me back, but I wasn’t in my logical brain.” It was then she realised that the man she was talking to was not the handsome man in the pictures, nor an oil worker called Pedro, and that nothing he told her was true. Officials advised her to continue talking to Pedro as normal for their investigation, and so she never confronted him about the money. In February 2024, officials confirmed she could cease communication, and she stopped answering his calls. “I figured I could call Pedro and call him every bad name, but I just thought ‘what’s the point?’ I knew the money was gone. It would just prolong more agony.” Throughout their relationship, Anola had spoken with Pedro just three times over the phone and once on a grainy video call – which she now believes to be AI. She still doesn’t know how Pedro’s bank account showed $4million. After stopping communication in February 2024, Anola said she received a few calls from him and a message to say “Why aren’t you answering my calls? What’s happening?” but she never responded. The investigation into Pedro is still ongoing, and Anola doesn’t know his true identity but says he is likely based in Nigeria. After losing her life savings, Anola is now harnessing her anger to help others who’ve also lost life-altering amounts to romance scams and works as a Fraud Prevention Specialist. She has also launched the podcast Romance Scam Rebellion and a fundraising page to recoup some of her losses. She says: “I will do everything in my power to not let these cockroaches get away with this without people knowing. I need to use the anger positively, and I think the podcast does that. “People think scam victims are little old ladies sitting in assisted living who are so lonely and vulnerable, but the reality is every generation is getting scammed.” In romance scams, a criminal uses a fake online identity to gain a victim’s affection and trust. The scammer then uses the illusion of a romantic or close relationship to manipulate and/or steal from the victim. According to Barclays, one in 10 UK adults has been targeted, or knows someone who has been targeted, by a romance scam. In the first quarter of 2025, romance scams were up 20 per cent year-on-year, and victims lost £8,000 on average in 2024, increasing to £19,000 for those 61 and over. “If you’re contacted out of the blue by someone you don’t know for whatever reason, don’t engage,” Anola adds. “I had a completely different view of how my retirement would be. And now I’m fighting for my life again.” LinkedIn have been contacted for comment.