He pleaded that he needed cash—fast—because “Fat Tony” from the Chicago mob was after him to repay a gambling debt. Four different women fell for that story, and others believed they were investing in his insurance business. They all lost their money—possibly $250,000 all together.
Meet Andrew Funches, AKA Ty Fortner, AKA Drew Fortner, AKA Logan Zander—the newest case study on Lovefraud.com. Read:
With multiple aliases but the same scam, Andrew Funches swindles more than 10 women
Victims started seeking each other out via the Internet, and eventually found as many as 18 women who’d been swindled by the same con artist. Ten women are named in official records—lawsuits and Funches’ bankruptcy case. The others never tried to recover their money.
This band of female fighters approached law enforcement officials with a thick file of documentation that Funches/Fortner was a con artist who routinely met women on dating sites and scammed them. And what happened? Nothing.
Problems with “romance scams”
When police and prosecutors are considering whether to go after the perpetrator of a “romance scam,” they face two big problems.
First of all, usually the money isn’t stolen—the person voluntarily gave the money to the con artist. Yes, the victim was deceived, but she still wrote the check or handed over the cash.
Secondly, because the con artist is proclaiming his love, proposing marriage, and painting a glimmering picture of the future, and the victim believes him, she rarely makes the guy sign any kind of loan document or promissory note. So, when she finally realizes that she is just being scammed, she has proof that she gave him the money, but no proof that he ever promised to pay her back. When she goes to the police, or files a lawsuit, he simply claims that the money was a gift.
Frequently, the police and prosecutors see a case with so much “reasonable doubt” that they don’t even bother with it. They don’t want to start a case that they’re unlikely to win.
Jurisdiction issues
The other problem with serial scammers is that because of the Internet, they can find victims in many different cities and states. This means that the cases are often in different jurisdictions.
Funches, for example, had five victims in Minnesota, but each was in a different city. The correct place to report someone like Funches is to the local police department. However, cops only have the authority to investigate issues in their particular communities. So the local police see one woman scammed for a few thousand dollars. They can’t prosecute the guy for swindling five women across the state, let alone 18 women in multiple states.
So who does investigations across state lines? The FBI. But now that the world is constantly on an elevated terrorism alert, the FBI focuses on terrorists and other high-profile crimes. They simply can’t be bothered with women being conned in romance scams.
Fadi Boulos Chaiban
All of this makes it remarkable that detectives in San Diago are looking for women who may have been victimized by a man named Fadi Boulos Chaiban, AKA Eddie Morretti, AKA Anthony Paul Marino, AKA Eddie Baker. This guy defrauded at least two different women of approximately $169,000.
Police say this guy operates throughout Southern California and possibly Las Vegas. Anyone who has been victimized by him or has any further information is invited to call the Detective Jim Johnson of the San Diego police at 619-692-4833, or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477. They may even be eligible for a reward.
Read Man accused of wooing, then defrauding women, on UTSanDiego.com.
Exposure works
It’s rare for con artists involved in romance scams to be prosecuted. When they are, they usually receive simply a slap on the wrist.
Therefore, the only way to combat these predators is through exposure. I know for a fact that our True Lovefraud Stories have saved women and men from falling victim to people that we’ve profiled, if they’re dumb enough to keep using their same name.
Andrew Funches has already demonstrated his preference for changing identities. So our story may work for awhile, until he comes up with another name.
skylar
Kim,
No one has ever said anything like that to me before!
Interesting because I just finished a great book about “set in stone certainty”. It’s about cog/dis.
I do try to see the issues clearly, but don’t always explain what I think clearly. I used to be very dramatic and emotional. Guess who taught me that it doesn’t work? SPATH.
I will admit that I am not certain about many things, most especially my parents. I cry over them constantly. The problem is probably not even them. In a way, the problem is me. I expect them to be perfect, like I always thought they were. But they aren’t. 😥
MoonDancer
Skylar is the Spathinator~!
one/joy_step_at_a_time
i was just reading a few of the recent posts this morning and had to tell you all how much i appreciate you. what great support i have been offered and received on lf. some of the people who have been supportive to me are no longer here, but i hope that that means they are doing better and not worse. Every piece of information and sharing of you stories, good humour and caring has gone a long way to helping me out of the abyss, and for that i am truly thankful.
darwinsmom
A new murder trial in Belgium that leaves me baffled.
In 2009, 15 year old daughter Joy had a 17 year old boyfriend Dimitri Lemmens. She and her mother Gwenn Vangestel didn’t get along, or at least the mother must have regarded the boyfriend Dimitri Lemmens a bad influence, and asked her daughter to end things with him.
The two carefully planned a murder on her mother then. The daughter put sleeping pills into her mother’s beverage, then left the door open, and her boyfriend entered with 2 coats on (so not to make his sunday clothes dirty) and a hammer. He murdered the mother with the hammer on the head, about 10-15 blows. The daughter went upstairs after the first blow to the bedroom of her two sisters (twins who are now 11). After her boyfriend Dimitri left, she called the police herself, trying to claim she found her bleeding mother like that, trying to blame some ghostly drug dealers. But their cellphone communication betrayed them. The two of them had messaged each other over 500 times during the night, except for 15 minutes… the 15 minutes of the murder.
Only the boyfriend is on murder trial. He was a minor at the time, but above 16 so the youth court and youth judge was free to decide to let him be tried in adult court. This is not the case for the daughter. She was younger than 15, and by law protected to be brought before adult court, evne though the youth judge found her guilty of the murder on her mother. Instead she has to remain in youth detention until 20.
She’s still a witness though at the murder trial, where she claims her mother beat her, neglected her (not doing the household) and was a drug addict, for which there is no corroborating evidence or witness account of either these claims. But at least the daughter Joy, admits that if she could turn back time she would things different now… What? one of the jury members asked her: she could have contacted her grandparents and go live with them instead, she said. The presiding judge is also annoyed with her, because she changed her accounts a few times (like her mother crying out her bf’s name after the first blow) and answers confronting questions with “I don’t remember anymore” or silence…
The boyrfriend’s account is almost as chilling as the daughter’s… “I didn’t count the blows. She didn’t struggle. Took struggled for breadths and there was blood coming out of her mouth. It made me nauseous, so I left.”
Defene lawyers “hope” for a “lenient” verdict… Sheesh these two planned a cold blooded murder, and then acted it out, and recount it with chilling coldness, still trying to smearing the mother. It’s horrible enough that the daughter will be released in 2 years again, though I accept a line has to be drawn somewhere regarding who gets to go to adult court or not, and that there are always rare exceptions of murderous youngsters who are younger than that age line.
Where is the father in this story? A missing spathic sperm-donor probably and his murderous daughter the genetic legacy?
Frandee
I had him put it in writing the money he owed me but you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip….on top of the fact that he always used to love to tell me horror stories on how he beat people up that got on his wrong side, I was scared, you don’t really know what they are capable with, I do know I wish I had a boyfriend that would be strong enough to back me up and confront him with me!!!! Without a doubt I would go after him!!!
tonicaps
This man is now going by the name Grey. Thank you for this article, you helped me avoid interaction with this man.