Posted Wednesday, December 16, 2009 --- 12:42 p.m.

Incident Report from the Madison Police Department:

A lonely Madison woman thought she had found a good man on a dating website this past October. The two of them struck up quite a courtship with emails, phone calls, online chats he even sent her flowers. It wasn't until after she sent the smooth talking hustler a lap top computer, a cell phone, and nearly $20,000 dollars that she realized she had been duped.

She contacted the MPD on December 9th to explain what happened: Her on-line friend claimed to be from Michigan, but in the middle of October told her he needed to go to Africa on business.

While out of country he seemingly encountered a myriad of communication and money problems - at least that is what he told his "friend" back in Wisconsin. Before sending him anything she paid to have his background checked. The name she had for him - as it would turn out – is a real person who does live in Michigan. The background check revealed no legal or criminal issues for this Michigan man, so she wired cash multiple times to Africa before figuring out something was amiss.

Prior to this discovery, she was also in contact with another man who said he worked at the hotel where the “Michigan businessman” was staying he also vouched for the “traveler’s” character. In the end, she would end up going to Michigan, and contacting the local police. Officers found the man whose name she had. He told the officers that this was the second woman who had come looking for him, and that he had nothing to do with on-line dating.

The Madison woman saw the real Michigan man, heard him speak, and knew immediately this was not the guy with whom she had had the online relationship. The MPD continues to work with the victim in attempts to identify the cyberspace criminal Romeo. Meanwhile, the dating website has taken down his profile after the Madison woman detailed his ruse. The MPD advises that some internet scams are very elaborate, and can involve multiple people working in concert to defraud victims.