Aurora Phelps, a 43-year-old woman from Las Vegas, has allegedly terrorized several older men in an online romance scam. It’s believed that she lured her victims through an app to meet up with them and steal their financial information.
She was able to carry out these plots for quite a while, operating from 2019 to 2023 and doing so with multiple aliases. Phelps faces more than 20 charges that include wire fraud and identity theft. She is also linked to at least two deaths and one disappearance, according to CBS News. She was nabbed in Mexico after attempting to flee.
Woman Used Tinder to Drug and Rob Older Men in ‘Romance Scam on Steroids’
Phelps, who always kept her first name in her fake names and used last names like Flores, Velasco, and Alvarez, exploited these men according to the FBI’s press release last week in the hopes of walking away with their bank account, social security, and retirement information. While older men were her primary targets, it’s believed no one was immune to her—including women.
Allegedly, one of her tactics to milk her victims for their information was by unknowingly drugging them, according to the report. By doing so, she would presumably attack them in an inebriated state when their guards were down and pull from them whatever she was seeking. One of her victims was so heavily sedated that he went into a coma before eventually waking up.
Finances weren’t the only things susceptible to her fraud, either. She also stole luxury cars, retail items, and gold. Spencer Evans, a special FBI agent out of Las Vegas, called it a “romance scam on steroids” and stated that it was a deliberate and methodical plan she concocted to steal from her victims, according to the New York Post.
The scary part in all of this is that there’s only a handful of victims that the FBI has been in contact with. There likely are a lot more. The ease and success with how she was able to scam these 60 to 70-year-old men gives reason to believe that the few that agents are aware of are only just scratching the surface.
Phelps is being extradited to the U.S. where she will face the 21 charges—with potentially more coming down the line if more people come forward. The FBI has urged more people who were impacted by her to step up in their public plea in the news release.
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