I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question but I promised my co-worker that I would post this.

My co-worker met someone through a well advertised internet relationship site. She never did meet him in person due to his excuses (travel for work, visiting with son overseas, etc.) This woman I work with has a huge heart and believes everyone. Well to make a long story short, I found out today that she transferred via Western Union $20,000.00 plus to this fellow by borrowing against her credit cards. You've probably guessed by now, she has not heard from him since her last transfer to him. Well, she has now lost her house that she and her daughter were living in, she's living with a friend and her daughter is living with the daughters' uncle. This woman is too embarrassed to ask for help so I am asking for her.
Is there anyway this creep can be tracked down? She has kept every email from him, phone records, etc. Is there any chance that she'll be able to recoup any of the money that was scammed from her?

Probably not in the end. It would just depend is he in this country or still is. Phone numbers can be disconnected. People can move around. Internet accounts closed, etc. I would not be too optimistic about her ever seeing a dime from this guy. Just my take on the problem at hand, Flossie. One possible way would be if she sent the money via Western Union to the same location and they kept track of his d/l info or had a surveillence camera or the info he used to collect the money at his end. Start with Western Union first. If they do keep some sort of records at the other end, have her file a police report and see if they can retrieve the info from them. But even if they do catch the guy he's just going to say the money was a gift from your big hearted friend...

Can I ask what exactly was the money for, what did he/she need it for? Was there any kind of promise of repayment?

It would be highly doubtful that they could find and prosecute this person in their home country's legal system but you never know...

She says his business was "in trouble" and she wanted to help him out.
I've finally persuaded her to go to the police, she is going on Monday. She is also going to have to file for personal bankruptcy which she is not very proud of.
She apparently sent the money to this creeps "lawyer" and had spoken to this said lawyer a couple of times by phone.

Sounds like a classic 419 scam to me, sorry there's not much that can be done.

Advance-fee fraud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/419_scam)

Yes, the money on western union is hard to track, normally goes to third world nations where there is little police action.

But most likely it was all done though fake names and pre paid cell phone numbers.

She needs to go to the police but sadly she needed to be smarter also.

Another good point is that if your friend sent money to help his business and they ever find him all he has to do is claim she was investing in his company and the business went under.

Unless she got some kind of signed documents showing it was a loan and not an investment in the company she is out of luck