• Maria Auxiliadora Rezende, 66, of Revere was indicted on one count of wire fraud, the US Attorney's Office announced on 13 November 2026.
  • Prosecutors allege an 85-year-old man with health and memory issues sent her and her associates more than $1M.
  • Wire fraud carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
  • Neither the DOJ nor the Boston Globe names a dating platform; the pair reportedly met through a class.

A federal grand jury in Boston has indicted Maria Auxiliadora Rezende, 66, of Revere, on one count of wire fraud over an alleged romance and investment scheme that took more than $1M from an 85-year-old Massachusetts man, the US Attorney's Office announced on 13 November 2026. She was arrested and charged by complaint on 10 November. She is presumed innocent.

The dating angle is indirect. Neither the DOJ release nor the Boston Globe's report names an app, and the Globe, citing an IRS affidavit, says the pair met through a class he was teaching. Operators should still read it, because the alleged playbook is one their trust and safety teams meet daily. DII has already covered the same office's separate forfeiture action.

The DII Take

The mechanics matter more than the platform. A slow-built relationship, a fictional inheritance and a recurring payment schedule are what dating-industry fraud models are meant to catch, yet nothing here needed an app. Prevention has to reach behaviour around the product, not just profiles on it.

An alleged scheme that ran for years

The charging documents allege Rezende led the man to believe she would inherit Brazilian farmland and that he could profit by paying a purported inheritance tax and legal fees. Prosecutors say the farmland, tax, lawyers and fees did not exist. According to the DOJ, the man paid more than $1 million to Rezende and her associates because of the alleged scheme.

The Globe, reading the IRS affidavit, reports the relationship began in July 2013 and that the money flowed from December 2020, mainly as monthly investment payments. It reports as many as five unnamed co-conspirators, and that the man's children hired a Brazilian lawyer in 2016 who later confirmed the farmland was not real. The Globe also reports she had a flight to Brazil booked for 10 November.

According to the DOJ, the man paid more than $1 million to Rezende and her associates because of the alleged scheme.

What to watch

Rezende is scheduled to be arraigned in Boston federal court on 17 November 2026. The Globe said her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For scale, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center 2025 report logged 23,159 Confidence/Romance complaints and $929,287,469 in losses. Victims aged 60 and over lost $584,032,745 of that.

Key takeaways

  • The Rezende case, in which neither the DOJ nor the Boston Globe names a dating platform, shows romance fraud can run for years entirely off-platform, limiting what in-app detection alone can catch.
  • FBI IC3 data put 2025 romance fraud losses among victims aged 60 and over at $584,032,745, so older members are the exposure for safety and compliance teams.
  • The 17 November 2026 arraignment of Maria Rezende in Boston federal court is the next procedural step; the wire fraud charge remains an allegation.

Sources: US Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts; The Boston Globe; MassLive; FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report; FBI; US Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts press listing