A Florida woman has been accused of convincing a disabled man that she was “trapped in a domestic violence relationship” and “needed money to escape,” allegedly conning him out of more than $2,000 with her lies.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Gianna Abel-Venezia was arrested after she was accused of scamming the man, whom she connected with online. She is now facing a felony charge of fraud-swindle.
“Gianna met the victim on Facebook Dating and began talking with him on the phone. She told him she was trapped in a domestic violence relationship and needed money to escape. To sell the story, she even sent photos appearing to show 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 more 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 because he was disabled,” the statement continued. “She also told him she had been doing this to people since 2025 and according to her, ‘there ain’t nun that can happen.’”
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.”
However, Abel-Venezia did admit she knew what she did was “technically wrong” and asked the detective to apologize to the victim for her. “What she didn’t expect was learning that scamming people out of money is, in fact, illegal,” the department continued.
Following her interview, authorities have come to believe that there may 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 may have been scammed by Abel-Venezia to contact Detective Bradish at 352-402-6022.
It is not 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 express their empathy for the victim. “People have good hearts and it is shameful what she has done and seems not to care,” one person wrote.
Meanwhile, another 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 was scammed by a young man that asked me for money for various reasons,” a second social media user wrote. “Thanks to my friends and family I got out of that relationship before I went broke.”
