The pair met on Wordfeud, a multiplayer word game for Android and iOS operating systems.
The woman asked the man, from Charlotte, to meet in a chat room and had him send her money through the Zelle app, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department spokesman said.
The woman said she needed the money for medical bills and for transportation to meet the victim in the United States, police said.
She then said when she arrived, she was kidnapped and her abductor needed Amazon gift cards to ensure her safety.
The scam went on for five months, police said.
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