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” and allegedly defrauding him of more than $2,000 with her lies.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office confirmed this Gianna Abel Venezia was arrested after she was accused of cheating on the man she contacted online. She is now facing criminal charges for fraud.
“Gianna met the victim through Facebook dating and began talking to him on the phone. She told him that she was trapped in a domestic violence relationship and needed money to escape. To sell the story, she even sent photos that appeared to show injuries. The victim felt bad for her situation and sent money,” the police department wrote in a letter Facebook Posted on Wednesday, May 20th.
Police said 19-year-old Abel-Venezia continued to defraud the victim, eventually tricking him into sending her more than $2,000.
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“When the victim found out he had been lied to and confronted Gianna, she admitted that she only spoke to him for money and because he was disabled,” the statement continued. “She also told him that she has been doing this to people since 2025 and in her opinion, ‘This can’t be happening’.”
After Abel-Venezia’s arrest, she reportedly reiterated that she should not be punished, saying that if someone was “stupid enough” to send money, it was their fault.”
However, Abel-Venezia admitted that she knew what she had done was “technically wrong” and asked the investigator to apologize to the victim for her. “What she didn’t expect was to learn that it is illegal to scam people out of money,” the department continued.
After her interview, authorities have come to believe there may be additional victims Abel-Venezia defrauded with allegations of “domestic violence” or “sex trafficking.”
The department concluded the statement by asking anyone who believed they were defrauded by Abel-Venezia to get in touch Detective Bradish at 352-402-6022.
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It is currently unclear whether Abel-Venezia entered a plea or retained legal representation following her arrest.
After police shared the post on Facebook, several people took to the comments section to express their condolences for the victim. “People have good hearts and it’s shameful what she did and she doesn’t seem to care,” one person wrote.
Meanwhile, another person said that getting tricked by a scammer is easier than some might think. “I just want to say that it happens more often than people realize. I was scammed by a young man who 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.”
