OKEECHOBEE — Another local woman was scammed out of thousands of dollars this week, but this time it was by a man posing as a new boyfriend serving in the Army. This man, whom the woman never had met in person but had corresponded with, supposedly was serving overseas. According to the statement given to Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Deputy Jose Garcia, this man offered to help his new female friend pay her house payment and would put the money directly in her bank account via direct deposit. The trouble was that she did not have a bank account, so she asked a friend for her bank account information, and the friend allowed her to use her account for the transaction. The man deposited $6,400 into the friend’s account using WhatsApp, and when the money went into the account, the friend withdrew $2,000, and gave it to the woman to pay her house payment with.

A few days later, the bank sent the account holder a notice saying the check had insufficient funds to cover it, and they want their $2,000 back. The man is nowhere to be found.