Crime & Safety

The Wedding Scammer - Thousands Stolen For Fake Marriage to Make-Believe Cambodian: Cops

A Naperville man poured thousands of dollars into an arranged marriage to a Cambodian woman who doesn't exist, police said.

NAPERVILLE, IL — A match-faker swindled a Naperville man out of thousands of dollars by promising to arrange a marriage for him to a make-believe Cambodian woman.

Sayannee Kim, 34, a former resident of Bolingbrook now living in Mishawaka, Indiana, has a $400,000 warrant out for her arrest in connection with the alleged altar artifice.

Kim conned a 36-year-old former coworker out of thousands after agreeing to arrange a marriage for him, police said. Kim is “allegedly of Cambodian descent,” according to the cops, and convinced the man that her relatives in Asia would be able to find a woman for him to marry.

Kim then created the persona of a fake bride-to-be in order to siphon away the man’s money.

“She used various social media devices to trick the victim into believing this person existed,” said Naperville police Cmdr. Jason Arres.

Between June 2014 and November, the man allegedly paid Kim more than $10,000 but less than $100,000 to cover his make-believe bride’s dowry, wedding costs and travel expenses.

Kim has reportedly agreed to surrender to the Naperville police but has yet to do so.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.