A Las Vegas woman is being accused of using online dating apps to lure at least four older men to meet her in person, then drugging them with sedatives and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a “sinister” romance scheme, according to FBI officials in Las Vegas.
Three of the men died and Aurora Phelps, 43, has been charged in one of their deaths, authorities confirmed.
Phelps, who is in custody in Mexico, faces 21 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, identity theft, kidnapping and one count of kidnapping resulting in death, Sue Fahami, the acting United States attorney for the District of Nevada, said at a news conference on Friday.
These charges can carry a sentence of up to life in prison and the FBI is working with the Department of Justice and Mexican authorities to secure her extradition.
“This is technically a romance scam, but this is a romance scam on steroids,” said Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division.
“We have not seen one like this in recent history that’s as nefarious, as sinister,” Evans said. “It’s folks that are out looking for love that ran into something far more sinister.
“We believe Aurora Phelps deliberately and methodically targeted older men to drug them and steal from them.”
A screenshot of Aurora Phelps Tinder profile.
FBI
In one of the instances, an older man allegedly fell victim to Phelps when he met her on an online dating app in November 2022. They met up at a restaurant in Las Vegas and she slipped the man medication “and other substances,” according to the indictment. The man became lethargic and confused, and Phelps made purchases with his American Express credit card without his consent while he was in a drugged state, the indictment alleged.
When Phelps’ purchases began to decline on the card, she allegedly prompted him to authorize the purchases by speaking to American Express.
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Phelps, who has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Mexico, is then alleged to have kidnapped a victim by heavily sedating him and taking him across the U.S.-Mexico border in a wheelchair, with her daughter present, and then to a Mexico City hotel room where he was later found dead, according to the FBI.
Evans said that after Phelps incapacitated her victims, she stole their cars, withdrew money from their bank accounts, used their credit cards to purchase luxury items and gold and tried to access social security and retirement accounts.
According to the indictment, Phelps met one man in July 2021 and went on lunch dates with him. In November 2021, she allegedly ordered lunch to his house and slipped him a prescription drug.
While he was “mostly unconscious” for about five days, Phelps was able to gain access to his accounts and stole his iPhone, iPads, driver’s licence and bank cards, according to the indictment. She also allegedly accessed his E-Trade account and sold Apple stock worth about US$3.3 million, but she was unable to withdraw that money.
Phelps has been on the FBI’s radar for a couple of years, according to Evans.
Several of the victims’ relatives called authorities when they were unable to contact their loved ones, Evans added.
One woman was unable to reach her father the day after he went on a date with Phelps in Guadalajara, Mexico, in May 2022, according to court records. The next day Mexican police found him dead on the bathroom floor of his home. Phelps then used an account belonging to the victim to purchase a gold coin and have it mailed to her home, along with other transactions, the indictment alleged.
“Several victim family members were concerned when they could not contact their loved one,” Evans said Friday. “They didn’t know what had happened to them. They made phone calls to authorities; they’re trying to figure out where they were.”
The FBI is still seeking to identify other potential victims of Phelps, who also goes by the aliases Aurora Flores, Aurora Velasco and Aurora Alvarez. It is believed that from approximately 2019 to 2022, Phelps met individuals online or exploited those she knew in order to steal their personal information, according to the FBI.
“Mrs. Phelps primarily targeted elderly men; however, she was known to target all age groups as well as women,” the FBI added.
“There may be other individuals … who fell victim to her scams and whose trust in her may have cost them their life,” Evans warned. “The FBI has become aware of multiple additional potential victims, male and female, both in the United States and Mexico, that we believe Phelps preyed upon over a period of more than three years.”
If convicted on every charge, including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of bank fraud, three counts of identity theft and one count of kidnapping, Phelps faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Anyone with information about Phelps is encouraged to contact the FBI and fill out a form on its website.
—With files from The Associated Press
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