After meeting him on a dating app, a woman is said to have scammed the holocaust survivor out of $2.8 million.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said that 36-year-old Peaches Stergo, also known as “Alice,” tricked an 87-year-old man into giving her his life savings so she could buy Rolex watches, a boat, and other expensive things.
Stergo was arrested on January 25 for one count of wire fraud, which happened six years ago when she met the unnamed victim on the app.
The defendant callously preyed on a senior citizen simply seeking companionship, defrauding him of his life savings,
Michael J. Driscoll, the assistant director of the FBI’s New York field office said, per a press release.
For years, Stergo is said to have tricked the victim into giving her more money. The first payment she got from the victim was $25,000. Since then, prosecutors say, she has kept lying to get $50,000 checks every month, as reported by a source.
The indictment said that Stergo pretended to be a bank worker, sent fake invoices, and set up a fake email account to make a promise to an elderly man that he would be paid.
It was also said that she told him that if she didn’t get the money, her bank account would be frozen and he would never get paid back.
The con artist is said to have bought a house in a gated community, a boat, a condo, and several cars, including a Corvette, with the money. Prosecutors also said that she brought gold and silver bars, jewelry, designer clothes, and money from him to spend.
Over the course of four years, the victim is said to have given the scammer 62 checks, which caused him to lose $2.8 million and his apartment.
According to court documents, the scam came to an end in October 2021, when the victim told his son that he had given the suspect his money because she told him he would get it back.
When the son told his father that the woman had tricked him out of money, his father stopped sending checks to her.
Now, if Stergo is found guilty, she could spend up to 20 years in prison. She is supposed to show up in federal court in Florida.
