The relationship between a Japanese woman and a U.S. Army captain stationed in Syriastarted online, through an international social network for digital pen pals. It grew into an internet romance over 10 months of daily emails.
It ended with the woman $200,000 poorer and on the verge of bankruptcy after borrowing money from her sister, ex-husband and friends to help Capt. Terry Garcia with his plan to smuggle diamonds out of Syria.
In reality, there were no diamonds and there was no Garcia — they were part of an elaborate scam hatched by an international ring of cyber thieves operating mainly out of Los Angeles and Nigeria.