A woman conned more than £30,000 from a vulnerable man after posting a fraudulent advert on Craisgslist.
Roger Willis was described as an "easy target" for Helen Williams, 40, who offered him a £5 million return on an "investment".
A sentencing hearing was told Mr Willis initially paid £75 after answering the advert in 2017, but Williams then requested further payments.
Prosecuting counsel Anna Price told Caernarfon Crown Court on Wednesday Williams then claimed to be in trouble with her landlord and had been threatened by a gang, North Wales Live reports.
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“She told him she had been taken hostage and beaten and dumped in woods," Miss Price said.
"He did exactly as she asked and continued to transfer various sums."
Williams then made phone calls to him and Mr Willis’s wife told him to contact police.
But, in the desperate hope that the investment did exist and also out of concern for Williams, he continued to transfer money to the defendant.
In a victim statement, Mr Willis had said she put him “through hell".
Miss Price said: ”He felt an overpowering sense of bitterness and regret. It affected his mental health. It had a devastating impact on his relationship with his wife.”
At the time of writing the statement, he had a diagnosis of terminal cancer.
Williams, of Bridge Street, Caernarfon, was jailed for two years and nine months after admitting four frauds.
The prosecution said three of the offences involved her impersonating her 70-year-old mother after logging into her Facebook account.
She’d tricked her cousin into making 27 payments, totalling £3,670, after claiming she had serious financial problems.
A conned friend of her mother lost £220. Williams had also begged an old work colleague of her mother for money and he gave her £500.
All the offences were in 2017.
Defence barrister Dafydd Roberts said there didn’t appear to be any reasonable explanation for the delay in bringing the case to court. Williams had been sent to prison in 2017 and had since stayed off drugs and turned around her life.
Her mother had sought the removal of a restraining order and was at court to support her daughter. “I invite the court to consider whether a suspended sentence can be imposed,” Mr Roberts added.
Judge Timothy Petts said it had taken an “unacceptable” length of time to investigate and prosecute Williams. But imprisonment was “unavoidable.”
Mr Willis had been an “easy target.”
No compensation was awarded because the defendant didn’t have the money to re-pay the lost sums.
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