An 87-year-old Holocaust survivor was tricked out of $2.8 million in a romance scam by a woman he met on a dating website, according to federal prosecutors. Peaches Stergo, 36, is alleged to have lived a “life of luxury” after swindling the enormous sum, buying houses, a Corvette and a boat with the money.
Stergo was arrested in Florida on Wednesday on one charge of federal wire fraud, the US Attorney’s Office for Southern New York said
Stergo, who also goes by “Alice”, allegedly met the victim – a Manhattan man – on a dating website six or seven years ago, according to officials.
By 2017, she began to ask the man for money claiming that she had gotten a settlement in a lawsuit but that she needed to pay her lawyer to receive the money, prosecutors allege.
Over the next four years, Alice “repeatedly lied to the victim to induce him to send money”, according to an indictment released by the Justice Department.
Prosecutors allege that the victim wrote almost monthly checks of $50,000 dollars to Stergo. After each check she would allegedly tell the victim she needed more money or her TD Bank accounts would be frozen and he would never be able to recoup his savings.
Stergo allegedly wrote fake emails pretending to be a TD employee and faked invoices to give to the victim’s bank, explaining the large transfers of money.
In all, 62 checks for a total of more than $2.8 million were deposited into her account, according to the indictment.
The document claims that Stergo used the victim’s life savings to “live a life of luxury” buying a house in a gated community, a condo, multiple cars including a Corvette, and a boat.
Prosecutors claim Stergo stayed in expensive hotels, including the Ritz Carlton, and spent tens of thousands on jewellery and expensive meals while the fraud was ongoing.
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In or around October 2021, the victim told his son the he had given his life savings to Stergo. His son then told the victim he had been scammed.
As a result, the victim was unable to pay his bills and lost his Manhattan apartment, according to the court document.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York want Stergo to forfeit the money and luxury items. She could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
In 2021, Americans lost more than $1 billion in romance scams across the US involving 24,000 victims, according to the FBI.
