American Politician Gets Scammed in Ukraine

(Chernovtsky, Ukraine) A Green Party candidate for governor of Arizona in 2010, Cary Dolego, 53, was recently found disheveled and homeless in a train station in Ukraine.

Volunteer workers in the town of Chernovtsy, near the Romanian border, made the shocking discovery when they approached a group of homeless people in the station, and an "exceptionally unkempt" man responded in fluent English and presented an American passport.

Dolego, 53, then opened his suitcase to reveal a notebook computer and a clean suit, volunteer Anastasia Beridze said.

Dolego told aid workers a harrowing story of love and delusion that began with an Internet friendship with a woman named Yulia, who invited him to Ukraine in May to share his "innovative research" on aviation and shipping safety.

But Yulia did not show up at an arranged meeting in Chernovtsy, and after Dolego's debit card was blocked, he found himself broke and alone in a freezing train station.

There's a lesson here.