COQUITLAM, B.C. - Fraud and theft charges have been laid against a 37-year-old British Columbia man accused of swindling money from people he met through online dating sites and dating referral services.
RCMP in Coquitlam say Reza Moeinian engineered romantic relationships in order to steal substantial amounts of cash by convincing people to sign up for credit cards and lines of credit, which he drained.
Cpl. Michael McLaughlin says in a news release that police want to assure potential victims that their identity will never be released.
Mounties say anyone who may have been a victim of romance fraud, especially in Anmore, Belcarra, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, should call police.
Moeinian is accused of using a pseudonym and posing as a foreign businessman.
Along with two counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of theft over $5,000, he is charged with one count of causing someone to use a forged document.
Police say he is currently in custody and scheduled to make his next court appearance on Monday.
Editor's note: Police in New Westminster issued a warning later on Wednesday saying that a resident of that city was scammed into sending $70,000 to an online sweetheart.
