‘I Lost $26,000 to a Romance Scam—Now I’m Helping Other Women Avoid the Same Heartbreak’
She gave her Tinder match $26K because she thought it was love. Then she learned the truth
Beth Hyland never imagined she’d fall victim to a romance scam. But after meeting a man on Tinder who seemed perfect—too perfect—she lost $26,000 to an elaborate fraud scheme. The experience left her heartbroken, embarrassed and determined to make sure other women don’t suffer the same fate. Today, Beth is a passionate advocate for romance scam victims, educating women about psychological manipulation and shattering the shame surrounding cybercrime. Here, she shares her story in her own words.
I was finally ready to open my heart again
Four years after a heartbreaking and horrific divorce, I was settling into a new home in Portage, Michigan. After wrestling with the stress of moving, I finally felt ready to dip a toe back into the dating pool. Nervous but hopeful, I created a profile on the dating app Tinder.
Within a few weeks, I was elated when I saw the words ‘It’s a Match’ pop up on my profile and I began messaging with a man named Richard Daub. His profile showed that his likes, dislikes and humor were intriguingly similar to mine, so I was immediately interested. At the time, I thought it was simply compatibility…and didn’t see it as the big red flag that it truly was.
Too good to be true
Our relationship began so innocently, with Richard asking me a lot of questions, paying close attention to my answers and offering a compliment for almost everything I said.
He reeled me in without smothering me or making me feel like things were moving too fast. He spoke of wanting our connection to go slowly but also confessed to being surprised by how quickly his feelings for me were escalating. Every word gave me butterflies.
After only 10 days, Richard proclaimed he was falling for me even though we had yet to meet in person. He claimed to have a demanding work schedule that forced him to constantly travel out of town. At that point, I considered doing a background check on him, similar to what two of my close friends did when they met their significant others on Tinder.
I settled for a simple Google search, but it didn’t produce any results about Richard. I found that odd, and an overwhelming feeling of ‘something is really wrong’ washed over me. But I quickly rationalized it away, giving him the benefit of the doubt. With his ardent words, my alarm bells were soon replaced by a wave of romantic feelings.
Two weeks in, Richard told me he wasn’t ready for a relationship and also had a major work issue to figure out. He said he would understand if I wanted to find someone else. I was disappointed, but the very next day, he frantically told me he’d made a big mistake and was overwhelmed with emotion because he was sure I was the woman for him.
I was hesitant, but with his flattering words and constant affection he was able to pull me back in. Soon, to my own surprise, I’d fallen in love with him.
Going all in
After confessing our feelings, our relationship escalated quickly and we began discussing a future together. I brought up marriage and Richard told me he was making plans to move to Michigan and began calling me his ‘wife-to-be.’
Richard told me he had to make a trip to Doha, Qatar, to follow up on a project he’d completed during COVID, but hadn’t been paid for. He said he was traveling with a lawyer and translator but ran into issues accessing his bank account, which had been mysteriously frozen.
Richard never technically asked me for money for his business trip expenses, but we discussed what he needed at length. Because he was my fiancé—and I loved him—I took out a $15,000 loan from my bank, a $5,000 loan at a different bank and a $5,000 cash advance on my credit card. I also pulled out $1,000 to send Richard via Bitcoin ATMs.
He coached me through transferring the money and sent a video on how to use a Bitcoin ATM. Ironically, at the ATM, I read a warning that said, If someone gave you a QR code, STOP, this is a scam. I thought, Oh, that doesn’t apply to me, we are in love. And I convinced myself to send him $26,000 over the course of 4 days because that is how you support the person you love.
The painful truth
Richard assured me he was being paid $10.1 million for the job and directed me to a cryptocurrency institution to create an account and submit the necessary documents so he could repay me.
Although his big payout appeared, when I asked about transferring what was owed to me, there was a $50,000 activation fee.
At this point, something really felt wrong, but instead of thinking Oh, Richard is a scammer, I became convinced this crypto company was scamming him.
Reluctantly, I contacted my financial advisor for advice and divulged the whole story. My advisor broke the devastating news: I was most likely wrapped up in an elaborate romance scam—something I’d never even heard of.
Feeling isolated, embarrassed and alone, I listened to my advisor’s explanation of what was really happening to me. I couldn’t believe my kind, loving Richard was lying and stealing from me.
At that point, I knew I couldn’t send him any more money, but I wasn’t ready to let go of what I thought was true love. Being scammed didn’t change how I felt. I needed time to wrap my head and heart around Richard’s scheme, so I stalled for a week, making him think I’d ultimately give him more money.
It was horribly difficult to accept that someone I trusted and believed loved me was manipulating me. I painstakingly replayed every conversation we had, thinking, How did I not see this?
My intuition is typically strong but sadly, even intuition can’t compete with the sophistication and expertise of this caliber of scammer.
I finally confronted Richard and he denied everything. He also accused me of being unable to tell fact from fiction. So I did a reverse image search on his picture and found that ‘Richard’ had created his Tinder profile using pictures he’d stolen from a real man in Germany.
I reported the fraud to local police, but I was told it wasn’t a crime because I had given him the money willingly. I was in shock and spent countless nights crying and day after day fighting to get my money back—to no avail. Finally, I woke up one day with a new purpose: to help other victims of romance scams and make sure other women are protected.
Spreading hope
I wrote Diary of a Romance Scam: When Swiping Right Goes Wrong and founded A Voice for Unrequited Love, LLC, an organization dedicated to shattering the shame of romance fraud through education around psychological manipulation. Now, my passion is protecting women, helping them heal and showing victims cybercrime is not their fault.
This story first appeared in the March 16, 2026 issue of Woman’s World magazine.
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