Woman sells her house to send $600,000 to romance scammer, Oklahoma officials say

A woman pretending to be a man conned women out of around $1.5 million through online romance scams, Oklahoma officials say.

Christine Joan Echohawk, 53, is accused of conning four women, whose ages range from 64 to 79, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in an April 8 news release.

Each of the out-of-state victims believed they were in an online relationship with a man, who was actually Echohawk, officials said.

One of the victims, according to a probable cause affidavit, referred to the alleged scammer as her “fiancé.”

“These types of scams that target seniors are especially egregious,” Drummond said in a statement.

Authorities said Echohawk opened accounts with MidFirstBank in October 2024, and those accounts began receiving large sums of money from people in Florida, Utah and Texas.

Echohawk used the aliases Maurice Dinero, Edward Lotts, Jason Morris and Glenn Goadard in her schemes as she received multiple six-figure payments, according to court documents.

Using the Lotts alias, Echohawk received $600,000 from one woman, who sold her house to send money to the alleged scammer, according to the probable cause statement. The woman believed the money would be used to pay off Lotts’ debt, and she thought “he” would be moving in with her in a new residence.

Echohawk made another victim believe “she knew him since college,” convincing her to send $250,000, authorities say.

Using the Morris alias, Echohawk told another woman that money “he” received would be used toward supplies and fuel for “his” oil tanker in Turkey, according to the court documents.

Echohawk was sent money through “Apple gift cards, cash and cashiers’ checks as well as wired money,” the attorney general said.

“Echohawk is accused of laundering the illegally obtained funds through various accounts, converting them to cryptocurrency and then sending crypto payments to an unidentified suspect,” according to the news release.

She told authorities she sent the victims’ money to a man she was in a romantic relationship with, according to court documents.

”Echohawk also advised there were multiple ‘red flags’ about the situation, and she had frequent concerns about her being arrested,” authorities said.

Even after she was confronted in January, she continued to con victims out of their money, authorities said. She went on to receive $1.5 million from the victims, according to the attorney general.

Officials said Echohawk, of Pawnee, was charged with unlawful use of criminal proceeds and using a computer to violate state statutes. If convicted, she faces 24 to 62 years in prison.

Pawnee is about a 90-mile drive northeast from Oklahoma City.

This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Woman sells her house to send $600,000 to romance scammer, Oklahoma officials say."