A Florida woman has been accused of convincing a disabled man that she was “trapped in a domestic violence relationship” and “needed money to flee,” allegedly conning him out of greater than $2,000 along with her lies.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Gianna Abel-Venezia was arrested after she was accused of scamming the person, whom she connected with online. She is now facing a felony charge of fraud-swindle.
“Gianna met the victim on Facebook Dating and commenced talking with him on the phone. She told him she was trapped in a domestic violence relationship and needed money to flee. To sell the story, she even sent photos appearing to point out injuries. Feeling bad for her situation, the victim sent money,” the police department wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday, May 20.
Police said that Abel-Venezia, 19, continued to scam the victim and ultimately got him to send her greater than $2,000.
“When the victim discovered he had been lied to and confronted Gianna, she admitted she was only talking to him for money and since he was disabled,” the statement continued. “She also told him she had been doing this to people since 2025 and based on her, ‘there ain’t nun that may occur.’”
After Abel-Venezia was arrested, she reportedly doubled down that she shouldn’t be penalized and said that if someone is ‘“dumb enough’ to send money, that’s on them.”
Nevertheless, Abel-Venezia did admit she knew what she did was “technically flawed” and asked the detective to apologize to the victim for her. “What she didn’t expect was learning that scamming people out of cash is, in reality, illegal,” the department continued.
Following her interview, authorities have come to imagine that there could also be additional victims that Abel-Venezia scammed with claims of “domestic violence” or “sex trafficking.”
The department concluded the statement by asking anyone that believed they might have been scammed by Abel-Venezia to contact Detective Bradish at 352-402-6022.
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It isn’t currently clear if Abel-Venezia has entered a plea or retained legal counsel following her arrest.
After the police department shared the post on Facebook, several people took to the comments section to specific their empathy for the victim. “People have good hearts and it’s shameful what she has done and seems to not care,” one person wrote.
Meanwhile, one other person said that it’s easier to be tricked by a scammer than some might think. “I’m just here to say it’s more common than people realize. I used to be scammed by a young man that asked me for money for various reasons,” a second social media user wrote. “Due to my family and friends I got out of that relationship before I went broke.”