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Brian Brainard Wedgeworth carries the nickname the “Casanova Scammer” after purloining over $1 million from more than 30 people through online dating sites. The Florida Justice Department announced that he pleaded guilty Thursday to “25 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering.”
Court documents show that between October 2016 and March 2021, the Tallahassee man disguised himself as a physician to defraud women, inducing them to send him money, watches, and jewelry. In doing so, the Wedgeworth went under different aliases like Dr. Brian Adams. Furthermore, Wedgeworth’s photos on his dating sites depicted him as a real doctor because he dressed like one.
The love bandit approached various women through apps like Hinge, Plenty of Fish, Match.com, Christian Mingle, and Elite Singles. The scammer would also meet women in person and portray himself as “Brian Anderson, M.D., F.A.C.S.” by giving them his fictitious business cards with his fake name and occupation. He continued expanding his lies, stating he attended prestigious universities like Harvard Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, and more. The Casanova Scammer even claimed that he was a Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity member, knowing that some of his female victims were associated with sororities familiar to the fraternity.
Wedgeworth promised to pay off his victims’ loans and debts, prompting women to give away their banking and loan information like account numbers, logins, passwords, and personal identification information. He “then sent electronic payments to the women’s credit card companies, mortgage lenders, student loans servicers,” and others using accounts with insufficient funds so the women would get a notification about the payments on their debts being paid.
But before the fake payments, meant to clear their debts, Wedgeworth swooped in with a story about how he didn’t have the funds to pay the expenses for his fraudulent medical practice, convincing women to “withdraw cash from their bank accounts” to send to him, “write checks payable to” Wedgeworth, or write money to him.
The Tallahassee hustler scammed his way into thousands of dollars, including more than $14,000, a Rolex watch, and college football game tickets.
“Our citizens should not be preyed upon by fraudsters who steal through overtures of affection,” Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, said. “With the assistance of our dedicated law enforcement partners, we are committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting those who engage in all acts of fraud.”
Wedgeworth was indicted in November 2021 in Tennessee and now faces up to 20 years in prison for the wired and mail fraud counts, up to 10 years in prison for the money laundering counts, and a minimum mandatory sentence of two years.