SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah woman is out $55,000 in an apparent love scam, and she is warning others to be careful as more women have been contacted recently by the same profile on Facebook.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said she was initially approached in May 2014 on Facebook by a man who identified himself as "Craig Anderson."

The man, she said, claimed to have noticed her on the "LDS Singles 50-Something Singles of the World" page.

"We had a lot of the same likes and dislikes," the woman said. "He was from Ohio and he was working in Australia."

Everything seemed to be going well.

"He said he wanted to come to Utah because he liked Utah," she said. "He didn't want to have to take me away from my family and friends and my job."

Trouble surfaced, though, two months into the relationship.

The woman said Anderson told her his carry-on bag was stolen during a plane trip to Australia, and it contained $10,000 in cash and his credit cards.

"He came out and started asking me for money, I said, 'I don't have any money," she recalled. "'Well, can you get loans?' 'No, I can't get any loans.'"

The woman ultimately opened up an IRA at a local bank. She said Anderson told her his business associate would wire $60,000 into it for him.

"I went to the bank and they said the money was there — my bank had cleared it, it was fine," she recalled. "I withdrew about $55,000 of it and had it wired from my bank to the Philippines."

The woman said the bank told her two days later that the $60,000 deposit was fraudulent.

"I was devastated, because then it made it to the point where I was in trouble," she said. "I had to go file bankruptcy to have that wiped out."

A Weber County sheriff's spokesman confirmed the woman had reported the case to them last September, but it remained unsolved as of this week.

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An attempt to reach the man who identifies himself as Anderson did not result in a response.

High dollar amounts like the one in this case aren't a surprise to cyber investigators anymore.

"It's a problem," said Utah State Bureau of Investigation Capt. Tyler Kotter. "We're dealing with individuals who don't necessarily live in the state."

Kotter said the money is often gone in these types of cases.

"It's difficult to get back, but the important thing to remind individuals is to report it," Kotter said. "If there's one person, there might be five, there might be 10, there could be hundreds."

Kotter cautioned people if something doesn't feel right to not get involved.

He also strongly warned that people should not give money to those they haven't met in person.

It appeared Thursday that the Anderson Facebook profile was active again recently reaching out to women in Utah.

Karen Herd said the same Anderson profile sent her a message, claiming the man had seen her on an LDS singles page.

"He actually knows quite a bit about the LDS Church," Herd said. "I chatted with him a little bit, but it became more and more apparent to me that he wasn't a native English speaker."

Herd said she ultimately felt she was being scammed.

She said she confronted Anderson and even asked for a "proof-of-life" type photo. Instead, Anderson blocked her.

"I don't think that he's been doing this for a short period of time — I think he's been doing this for a long time," Herd said. "I think he's using specifically the LDS Church [references] to contact single women in the LDS community as a means of kind of getting them to let down their guard."

Herd said she had a mutual Facebook friend with Anderson. Herd said that mutual friend did not know Anderson.

She said she hoped other women would be careful.

"He's not real!" Herd exclaimed. "Don't give him any money! Don't cash any checks for him! He's not real!"

The woman who lost tens of thousands of dollars also urged caution in general.

"They don't care as long as they get what they want," she said. "Be very, very cautious. If they ask for money — NO WAY!"

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