Two strangers offered to repair his roof. Then one seduced him. Now he’s heartbroken — and out thousands of dollars

A few weeks later, Paul had lost $146,000 and only a small portion of the work had been completed. He said he was deceived – both financially and emotionally. When a concerned family member reported the incident to Durham Police, she said she was told there was nothing they could do. Only after several calls and emails, and after Paul himself gave a statement to the police, did they agree to begin an investigation. So far, no arrests have been made.

What helped fool Paul, he told the Star, were Allen's thoughtful and, he admits, enticing messages: “I can't stop thinking about you,” one read. In another: “Like I said, then it was just me and you.”

Paul's story is part of a disturbing trend romantic scamswhen a person creates a false identity and pretends to have romantic feelings for someone in order to gain their trust, only to manipulate them for financial gain. This is the template that increased during the pandemicand scammers target those who are lonely and desperate for companionship.

Romance scams are among the most common types of scams in the country, affecting 1,030 Canadians. Last year, losses amounted to $58.4 million. — up from $50.3 million a year earlier, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. These numbers are expected to be even higher as many victims never report the crime due to shame and humiliation.

It is for these reasons that The Star agreed not to use Paul's full name. The fraud devoured his savings account, including an education fund he set aside for his nephew, and increased his line of credit – just weeks before he retired.

“It was the worst year of my life,” he said.

Paul worked in the bank's IT department for nearly 48 years, a job he loved more than life itself, said his relative Cindy Schultz. He found his niche right out of high school and never looked back, she said.

Paul retired a few years ago but missed his job so much that he returned to work. He recently retired again, this time for good, he said. His world had always been work and home – a small wartime house on the corner of a plot in Ajax.

The site is partially fenced with trees and overgrown grass. Paul didn't care what people thought and didn't crave anything more than what he already had, Schultz said. “If the grass was knee-deep, at least he had grass.”

Paul enjoys watching the Toronto Blue Jays and reading newspapers, especially the magazines inside. “There’s a nice man on the cover,” he jokes, handing one to a Star reporter.

“Allen said he was a big baseball fan too,” Paul said, but then again, who knows if anything Allen said was true.

“He probably doesn’t even know what baseball is.”

The scam began when Allen and his business partner Peter knocked on Paul's door in July. On paper these people looked legitimate. They had official looking business cards, a website, and a quote on company letterhead.

Paul knew it was long overdue for renovations. Here, he thought, were two seemingly competent people willing to do the job. That's why he listened when Allen and Peter told him the house was structurally unsafe and that they could call the city and condemn the place.

Paul said it didn't seem like a threat at the time, but now he recognizes the warning signs. “It was pressure.”

Allen and Peter wrote out an invoice detailing the repairs they would do. The document reviewed by the Star lists the cost as $52,000 and the task: “Remove old shingles and plywood from the front of the roof and install new structure.” The next day Paul signed it and wrote them a check for that amount.

All this time, Allen pretended to be in love with him.

In the days and weeks that followed, the men became physically intimate, sharing personal details about each other and exchanging a series of flirtatious messages, Paul said.

Over time, the texts became more frequent and explicit. “The only thing hot today Paul are my nipples,” Allen wrote in one.

As the texts show, Allen said time and time again that he wanted a relationship with Paul, but that could only happen after the project was completed.

“Let’s get Peter out of the project side,” Allen wrote.

By this point, Schultz, a concerned family member from Nova Scotia, had learned about the so-called roofers and began to worry. What legitimate contractor would knock on doors and demand the full cost of the project up front?

She immediately called Durham police and asked if they could check on him. “He has Parkinson's disease,” she said. “He is emotionally vulnerable,” she said. “He's not thinking straight.”

This request, like others, remained unanswered. When she finally got to Durham Police's fraud bureau, she said an officer told her no crime had been committed and that Paul would have to report it himself.

Meanwhile, Paul fell deeper into the trap.

Allen and Peter did some work on the house but said they needed an additional $94,000 to buy materials for the rest. Paul was hesitant, but he trusted Allen. However, he was afraid of Peter.

When it came to receiving the money, Paul said he didn't even write a check. His hands were now shaking too much to write small, coherent letters, so Peter filled them in instead.

“All I had to do was sign it,” he said, admitting he felt forced.

Paul has not seen either man since late August and has not received his money. Over time, Allen stopped responding to his messages and calls.

Eventually he realized that he had been deceived.

Anti-fraud experts say they hear Paul's story too often.

Laura Proctor, a fraud prevention consultant with Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario, says the combination of romance scams and home renovation scams highlights how scammers are constantly evolving, inventing new tactics or modifying old ones.

While older adults tend to be scammed more than others, Proctor says the problem is not exclusive to this population. She said scammers will look for characteristics that make someone an easy target: if they are recently widowed, socially isolated, have health problems or are simply kind.

“Fraudsters are noticing this vulnerability,” she said. “They are really good at seeing someone who is lonely and quickly developing that relationship and then exploiting them.”

What makes romance scams especially dangerous is that they prey on your emotions and are designed to suppress what might otherwise be the rational part of your brain, says Vanessa Iafolla, director of Anti-Fraud Intelligence Consulting.

“All the critical thinking skills and questions you ask as a result of critical thinking go out the window,” she said.

In Paul's case, there was also a fear factor – the threat of “I might call the city and make your life miserable” – which is designed to make someone stop thinking and act as quickly as possible, Iafolla said.

Paul said another neighbor, a contractor, inspected his roof and determined that the repair costs required by Allen and Peter did not even come close to reflecting the work they had done.

Matthew and Sons Masonry and Construction advertises itself online as offering “supreme masonry and roofing solutions for residential and commercial properties.”

The website, registered in June, contains reviews of businesses with similar names that appear on other sites.

The Star was unable to reach Matthew and Sons Masonry and Construction for comment and could not confirm the identities of Allen and Peter. Repeated requests to the company's email received no response; the phone number listed on the website that Paul used to contact Allen leads directly to a voicemail saying the customer is unavailable.

The company numbered on the checks Paul wrote is associated with a house in Mississauga. When the Star visited the residence on Thursday, two men who answered the door said they were tenants and knew nothing about the company or the directors listed in business records.

For weeks, Schultz tried to find someone who could help Paul, contacting Crime Stoppers, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, a lawyer and Peel Regional Police, who she said were concerned about the situation but said the case was outside their jurisdiction, even though the recipient of the check was in Mississauga.

Schultz even contacted Halifax police to inquire about it. similar scam; concerned that the people accused of the operation had moved to Ontario.

Durham Police did not respond to the Star's questions about the case, but a spokesman confirmed they were investigating the incident.

Paul said the ordeal “ruined” his retirement and left him emotionally crushed.

The romantic part “hurt more than the financial part,” he said, adding that he had many sleepless nights thinking about how he allowed this to happen.

“I know my friends and neighbors are worried about me and I just need to put this behind me.”