They say that love is blind so the Better Business Bureau – Nebraska is warning those looking for the soul mate to be extra careful if using an internet dating site. President Jim Hegarty says a Nebraska woman not only had her heart broken but to add insult to injury she lost a lot of money.

Hegarty says she joined a dating website and started emailing someone in Nigeria. She was told the man was an American citizen that was helping to build an orphanage. After a time he told her the project was shut down and he was in need of money until he got his payments from the government. Once everything was settled over there the man said he would come to the U-S and the two would get married.

Hegarty says over the course of several months she wired more than $7,000 to the individual. He says that person was nothing more than a typical Nigerian running a new version of an old scam.

Hegarty if any situation appears too good to be true think again before opening the bank account.

A Fairbury woman will serve a life sentence for the murder of her husband. Susan Dejong was sentenced Thursday to the life term, and a consecutive 50-year sentence for use of a weapon to commit a felony.

Jefferson County District Judge Paul Korslund spoke of the beating death of Thomas Dejong, at the hands of his wife.

Judge Korslund says the man “bled to death inside his skin” as he was beaten so badly, being struck repeated with objects including a hammer.

The 52-year-old Susan Dejong was convicted in a February jury trial in Fairbury. The judge described Thomas Dejong as loyal to his wife, despite suffering from domestic abuse over the years.

“Thomas Dejong was basically a suffering servant,” the judge said. “He did not deserve the brutal assault that was inflicted upon him by Mrs. Dejong over a period of days.”

When asked for her statement, Susan Dejong began sobbing and her words were inaudible. After the hearing, Jefferson County Attorney Linda Bauer said the maximum sentences were appropriate.

Bauer says there have been cases of abused husbands, but they tend to be less visible than those involving women as victims.

She noted the tragedy of the killing, which prosecutors said was the result of Susan Dejong suspecting that her husband was in a relationship with another woman.

“You can’t bring the victim back and his family has to live with his loss,” Bauer says. “You hope that having seen justice done in the system that there is some sort of healing for them and that they can maybe move on now.”

Susan Dejong has no parole possibility, unless the life sentence is commuted later to a set number of years. She received credit for 419 days already spent in custody.

By Doug Kennedy, KWBE, Beatrice

A warning to Verizon customers… a fake email is making the rounds that tell customers they owe a very large bill and need to click on a link for details. Nebraska Better Business Bureau President Jim Hegarty says even though the alert is nearly identical to what Verizon really uses, it is a fake.

He says other companies are included in this scam including the Better Business Bureau, LinkedIn and U-S Air to name a few. He says this phishing scam is coming out of the Ukraine and it is primarily designed to load malware into business computers that looks for bank credentials. It then sets up fictitious vendors and starts pulling money from your bank account.

Hegarty says they are sending these emails out by the hundreds of thousands so to play it safe it is a good idea to call the business in question to ask if they are trying to correspond with you.

Hegarty says you can spot a fake email by hovering over the links and checking whether the URL leads to the company’s website. If it is a scam it leads to a third party site. If you receive a suspicious email, delete it and do not click on any links.

A corrections corporal at the Lincoln prison has resigned after being charged with having sex with a parolee.

The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services reports the Nebraska State Patrol arrested 26-year-old Anoroy Loyuk last week. Loyuk has been charged with first degree sexual abuse of an inmate or parolee. He is jailed in Lancaster County.

Loyuk resigned as a corrections corporal at the Community Corrections Center – Lincoln shortly before his arrest and during an internal investigation regarding contact with a parolee. Loyuk began work with the corrections department in 2008 as a correctional officer at the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center.

“Our Department has zero tolerance for sexual relationships with inmates.” said NDCS Director Bob Houston in a written statement. “Our Agency accepts nothing less than highly professional relationships between Agency staff members and persons we incarcerate and supervise on parole.”