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.
Donna, thank you for posting this article, as it speaks directly to my current issues. There is a stack of physical evidence of the exspaths forgeries, and I have no delusions that any prosecutor wants to dive into that rotting can of worms.
It seems that there’s a caveat with regard to “romance” related frauds that really can’t be circumvented. “Well, you were in love with the guy and you gave him your credit card, so it’s YOUR fault that he took everything that you had.” Victim-blame seems to be the only view on this, as far as I can see.
What the System doesn’t take into consideration with “romance” frauds is that the victim was betrayed – betrayed – BETRAYED. They were set up, conned, and cast aside with deliberate intention TO defraud. Period. The collateral damage to victims of these crimes is that they are never the same for the rest of their lives, whether they get through their own recoveries, or not. Trust issues, betrayal issues, PSTD, and the whole lot is also perpetrated, by proxy, and these predators should be held accountable for the incredible damages that they deliberately inflict upon others.
Shame, shame……it’s a (*&$% shame.
Truthspeak – It is true that when it comes to these types of crimes, law enforcement is practically useless.
Recovery, however, is possible. And the key to recovery is recognizing that the fraud and betrayal is NOT WHO WE ARE. The fraud and betrayal are something that happened to us. The betrayal was an incident, an experience. We do not need to allow it to define the rest of our lives.
So how do we get past the experience. First of all, we need to make a decision, a commitment to ourselves, that we are going to heal. Secondly, we need to allow ourselves to experience the deep wells of pain, disappointment and grief that the experience caused. We have to get it out of our systems, and the only way to do that is to allow ourselves to process the pain, which means feeling it.
Finally, we need to let the experience go. It is in the past, and there is nothing we can do to change the past. But we can let it go, so that it no longer defines our future.
We can recover. We can grow. We can acquire wisdom because of what happened. And we can share that wisdom to help prevent others from going through what we experienced.
Donna, thank you so much for your words of wisdom, hope, and encouragement.
I’m refusing to allow what the exspath did to define me, who I am, or whom I should be. I can’t turn back the clock and rewrite his actions or betrayals. And, I can allow myself to “feel” all of the negativity associated with this – I have a deep-seated fear that allowing an unbridled expression of these negative emotions would be painful to the point that I wouldn’t recover. I know that sounds defeatist, but I’m working my way towards that expression on an inch-by-inch basis. If that makes any sense, I’ll be amazed.
The day that I made my discovery, I made an intention to recover myself. I knew that the marriage was done, but I had no idea how to proceed. But, I sure as heck knew that I wasn’t going to tolerate such deviance in any relationship of which I was a part. The financial discoveries were made long after that – and, that is probably the focus of my anger, at this point.
So……I’m going to recover, and I’ll be okay in due time. I just need to refocus.
Again, thanks, and brightest blessings
Donna:
Those were the best words ever…thank you.
Donna: YES! You have absolutely hit the nail right on the head. Only once again, do I thank you. xxoo
Your words have set the tone for the day.
Love ~ Dupey
Donna,
I never thought I would have been one to just hand over my life savings in cash to someone even if I was “in love”.
Thank you for your comforting words and continued direction for healing. The knowledge being gained has been the utmost reward in this experience. Sometimes I look at the loss of money as my tuition fees in the school of life.
thanks again
Ok, here’s a joke to make everyone feel better.
A man travels many miles to consult the wisest guru in the land. When he arrives, he asks the wise man: “Oh, wise guru, what is the secret of a happy life?”
“Good judgement,” says the guru.
“But oh, wise guru,” says the man, “how do I achieve good judgement?”
“Bad judgement,” says the guru.
Skylar, ain’t that the TRUTH!!!!!! ROTFLMAO I wish I had a dollar for every time I X, Y or Z! LOL Thanks for a chuckle!
Thanks Skylar, loved it!
Love it Skylar.
Here’s another useflu quip. Not sure who said it, but,:
A wise man learns from his mistakes. A brilliant man learns from the mistakes of others.
And just for fun:
A woman dropped her keys out side her front door on a really cold dark night. She felt around for a minute, then went up the street under a street lamp. She bent over, and was looking intently for her keys. A bum happened along and asked her what she was looking for. “My keys,” she told him. “Where did you drop them”, he asked her. “Oh, over there in front of my door, but the light’s so bad there, I knew I’d never find them”. Ha.
Guys, I had a fabulious day!! A lovely sunny, warm day off from work, and I’ve been saving my money for a small portable washer and dryer. I come homw from work at night at 10:30 or 11:00, and get on line and shop. Don’t spend any money just cyber (window) shopping; dreaming of the next thing I’d like to have.
I’ve asked my daughter on about three occasions to take me to the bank so that I could deposit my money in her account and then she can order my W/D with her credit card. Well, she’s really busy, and my W/D isn’t a priority in her life. I also have had a problem corner in my tiny house, because I have No closets, and also did not have a dresser, so my clothes (and books) were piling up on top of my desk. I had been shopping on line for an armoire and a small book case, but, the W/D was my first priority.
I decided to get on my E-bike, today and ride to Walmart and give them cash to order my stuff, but first I stopped in a thrift shop along the way, and found a beautiful triple dresser in maple (I think, but real hard wood and matches my bed.) Also a small book case marked for ten dollars. They wanted 50 for the dresser. I asked if they’d take 50 for both. YES. I didn’t have a clue how I was gonna get it home, but asked them to hold it for a day or two.
Went from there to walmart and ordered my W/D, then went to the diner I work at, for a cup of coffee, and to say hi to the girls. One of our regular customers was there with his forest green Ford Ranger. I asked him if he would help me get my dresser home. YES. I called my (often annoying super controlling) SIL and asked if he’s help. YES. Guess he’s not so bad after all. LOL.
So, my problem corner is now quite lovely, and I’m walking on sun-shine. My daughter has told me how proud she is of me, and you know what? I’m proud of me, too.
Things are looking up.
I think I’m gonna try my hand at making a spinach and porcinni calzone for dinner with a really nice garden salad.
And guess what else? I’ve lost 11 pounds. YAY!!!!