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() A Las Vegas woman faces 21 federal charges after an alleged online romance scam turned deadly in what the FBI called a “romance scam on steroids.”
Aurora Phelps, 43, is accused of luring older men she met through online dating platforms, drugging them and stealing their money, the FBI announced Friday.
If convicted on all counts, which include wire fraud, kidnapping and kidnapping resulting in death, Phelps could spend the rest of her life in prison.
From July 2021 to December 2022, authorities said Phelps would contact older men on dating websites and meet up with them in person.
“It was part of her scheme to drug the older men to gain unauthorized access to and steal money from their financial accounts to personally benefit herself and her family members,” the FBI said in a news release.
She allegedly met one elderly man for lunch dates for two months in 2021, until one day, the lunch was drugged and caused him to become unconscious, according to an indictment filed Oct. 4, 2023. The man was unconscious for five days while Phelps allegedly stole money from his bank accounts and sold his Apple stock worth $3.3 million.
A two-year-long investigation revealed another victim died in a hotel room in Mexico City, where she allegedly lured him with her daughter. A third victim was found dead on his bathroom floor, though Phelps is only being charged in connection to one death.
“This is technically a romance scam, but this is a romance scam on steroids,” said Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division, at a news conference Friday. “We have not seen one like this in recent history that’s as nefarious, as sinister.”
Phelps is in custody in Mexico, where she has dual citizenship.
The FBI set up a website to identify potential victims. Anyone who may have been a victim or has information related to Phelps’ case should complete a survey or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.