‘I had nothing to live on’: The $60,000 romance scam that broke a B.C. senior’s heart

By Radha Agarwal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Delta Optimist At 75 years old, B.C. resident Sharon Blakeborough suffered a heart attack. It was not just a sudden medical emergency. It was the physical breaking point of a year-long deception. A sophisticated romance scam left her with severe emotional trauma and $60,000 in financial losses. Blakeborough separated from her husband in 2022. Soon after, a man approached her on Facebook. “I started to believe in him because I was vulnerable, because I was lonely. Yes, I was very lonely,” she said. He used the name “David Thompson.” He pre…