WEST MONROE, La. — A Farmerville woman is facing charges after she was scammed into cashing fraudulent checks and withdrew $5,000 to send to an “overseas boyfriend” that she has never met.

According to arrest reports, police were called to a West Monroe bank for a fraud complaint. The manager told officers that a woman, 65-year-old Karen Griffith, had deposited two checks worth $17,452 and had withdrawn $5,000 of that money before the bank learned the checks were fake.

When police interviewed Griffith she admitted to depositing the checks and said that her overseas boyfriend, who she has never met, sent her the checks in the mail. She told police that she mailed the $5,000, in cash and gift cards, to her boyfriend’s Californian lawyer so that he could come to the United States and marry her.

Police were able to track down the shipment, but the money had already been delivered.

Griffith was booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center on one count of Bank Fraud. Her bond has not been set at this time.