A online scammer who cruised dating apps pretending to be a CIA agent to swindle women out their cash died after jumping from a Washington, DC-area building as federal agents pursued him.
Shawn Steven Harris, 50, pulled the scam as far back as 2019, convincing his marks to give him tens of thousands of dollars for ‘undercover missions,’ according to his indictment.
Instead, he was shopping for high fashion at Bloomingdale’s, gourmet food delivery, and even OnlyFans subscriptions on the victims’ dime.
The callous charmer promised the women that the US Government would reimburse them as they grew more and more desperate for repayment.
The FBI eventually got wise to his scheme, indicting Harris on July 24 before coming to arrest him on Friday.
As agents closed in, Harris jumped to his death from his 15th-floor balcony in Alexandria, Virginia about 6am.
The indictment explained how he met four of his victims on Bumble between 2019 to 2021 and ruthlessly bled them dry.
His profiles used seven aliases: Shawn Martinez, Shaun Martinez, Eric Shun, Gordon Shumway, Shaun Harness, Shaun Moor, and Shaun Womack.
Once he’d won his targets over, Harris asked for cash and access to their credit cards to finance fictitious missions – giving various explanations as to why.
‘It’s a Russian Reason,’ he told one woman as the reason for his lavish spending on odd items.
‘They’re using clothing and other things as a front and OnlyFans for human trafficking and weapons sales. Thru escorts and others.’
Harris also invented a fake boss and a fake assistant whose personas he used to back up his lies.
Whenever he needed to disappear, temporarily or permanently, he claimed he was going ‘deep undercover’ and couldn’t contact them.
Harris made whatever promises he needed to pry open their wallets – money for pet dogs, student loans, houses, cars, and moving expenses.
He made excuses for not paying the women back, saying a mission was taking longer than expected, he didn’t have approval yet, or he was waiting for updated legislation to pass.
‘Stop racking up monies on my credit card mister!’ one of his victims pleaded on December 11, 2019, as her debts ballooned.
Harris replied: ‘It’s not racking up. It’s a trial, lady. And I’m paying for all of this.’
‘You best be. I’m broke as broke back mountain,’ the woman shot back, but Harris assured her that he ‘wouldn’t be doing it if I wasn’t paying for it’.
But she still wasn’t reimbursed by April 19, 2020, and was so desperate she was considering dipping into her 401(k) to cover her debts.
‘If you take out your 40IK. I will have the gov pay the f**king Penalty,’ Harris insisted.
The situation persisted until January 2021, when the victim was stressed about being in forbearance with SoFi.
Another of his victims was a single mother-of-two he met on Bumble in February 2020 and swindled out of tens of thousands of dollars with a promise to ‘take care of her kids.’
A year later, she was fed up with not being paid back and vented to Harris’ ‘assistant’ in a long message.
‘Really… After 8 months… This is not compensation… This is reimbursement… Does he get this? I know he doesn’t give a s**t about me… But f**k where his sense of morality?’ she asked.
‘The fact I have to beg to get reimbursed is sad.. . F**king takeout every night… Shopping sprees at Bloomingdales… F**king bought 7 pairs of sneakers.
‘The funny part is he bragged about being rich… 40Iks and real estate rental properties… And he’s struggling to pay back 15k???!?!
‘Somethings not adding up… Seriously who takes advantage of a single mom… Honestly if u don’t respect me enough to either reimburse me.’
The ‘assistant’ reassured her that she would be paid in full, and soon.
To woo another woman, Harris used the first victim’s credit card to buy things for her.
He told her to ‘treat herself’ to a manicure, spa day appointment, and buy everything needed to make a Christmas dinner.
Then he convinced her to use her own money to buy him expensive clothes, and never paid her back.