The story of the North Dakota man who was murdered by his girlfriend after he inherited $30 million just took a ridiculous plot twist: the dead boyfriend, Steven Riley Jr, was being scammed and there was never any $30 million in the first place.

Riley’s son told the NY Post that his dad fell for the classic online scam where he received an email from someone claiming to be a lawyer representing the estate of a “distant relative.” Steven completely fell for it and went to meet the lawyer at an airport where he could sign documents to receive the cash.

His son Ryan says: “He planned on getting acres of land, giving me and some of my brothers a chunk. Then opening his own auto shop. But the supposed lawyer never showed up. It was a scam. It was a stranger who managed to trick my dad into believing it was true, unfortunately.”

Police believe Ina Thea Kenoyer, 47, poisoned Riley, 51, with antifreeze as she feared he was going to leave her and run off with the $30 million windfall. Which, in the end, didn’t even exist, which means she killed him for no reason. Well, she would have killed him for no reason anyway because she wouldn’t have seen a cent of that $30m even if it was real, but the story is somehow even dumber now we know it was a scam all along.

In the original blog we wondered how a guy like Steven Riley would ever come into a $30 million inheritance in the first place, so I it seems our spider senses were on point (proper journalism here). Who is this scammer though, and how will they feel after realising they set these events into motion? Time to get a real job, I think.

For the window cleaner who gave his dead brother’s £367,000 to the homeless, click HERE.