PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Brown University graduate student was charged Thursday with scamming a Florida woman out of $30,000 by telling her he wanted to open a school for poor children in Dubai.
Shishuai Li, a 25-year-old computer science student, instead used the money for tuition and living expenses, authorities said.
Li did not enter a plea during an appearance in Providence District Court on a felony state charge of obtaining money under false pretenses, according to court records. He was ordered held on $3,000 bail and made to surrender his passport. A court spokesman said Thursday no attorney had yet entered an appearance on Li’s behalf. Li did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Police said Thursday that they believed Li was working with people in Nigeria, a haven for online scams targeting women.
“He, unfortunately, wouldn’t rat those people out to us,” Providence Police Captain Tim O’Hara said Thursday.
O’Hara said Li targeted women on the dating website Ourtime.com, which is aimed at people ages 50 and older.
“He was meeting people online, on a dating website, elderly woman, and schmoozing them, and convincing them that he was going to start a school for children in Dubai,” O’Hara said.
