A former City of Toronto employee has gone from living comfortably in a condo to “hand-to-mouth” and penniless after falling for a West African romance scam.

Toronto Police say the first incident began in 2010, when the victim, a “vulnerable” widow in her 70s whom investigators aren’t identifying, was defrauded out of $40,000 by an online love interest claiming to be in West Africa, in trouble, and in need of “emergency” money.

At some point after sending the money, the victim realized she had fallen for a “classic romance scam,” said Det. Sgt. Ian Nichol.

At the time, she kept quiet about being duped.

But the real damage came when either the same suspect or a cast of others contacted her posing as officials with the FBI, United Nations and West African authorities.

The alleged impostors claimed an investigation had uncovered the romance scam and that she would be reimbursed her $40,000, plus millions in compensation from the Nigerian courts.

“She was sent news releases and all sorts of official-looking correspondence, essentially stating she had been awarded money through the courts,” said Nichol, who confirmed a “significant component” of the scam was run out of a West African location.

The victim was talked into sending money, supposedly to cover fees, taxes and bribes to Nigerian officials. Eventually, she sold her condo.

The victim was defrauded out of $400,000 over seven years in her pursuit of the promised payout.

She is now living “hand to mouth,” said Nichol, who confirmed the victim is retired but wouldn’t say what she did with the city.

“She has a phone, she has a roof over her head, and that’s about it. She’s gone from living comfortable to living day-to-day.”

Nichol said the victim’s husband died not long before 2010 and that she was left isolated and “emotionally vulnerable.”

“This kind of thing goes on quite regularly,” he said. “Most of these people (victims) have some vulnerability, whether they’ve been through trauma, whether they’ve lost a loved one...And once they’ve bought into (a scam), critical thinking seems to go out the window.”

tdavidson@postmedia.com