MADISON, Wis. -- A simple quest to find a roommate in New York has one Madison woman scrambling to notify police now.

Erica Jorgenson said that she was scammed out of $1,400 in a money wire transfer. The money was supposed to be for first and last month's rent, but now it's gone.

Jorgenson said that she found the potential roommate on roomates.com.

She said that she had used the Web site successfully before to find a roommate in Connecticut during a recent internship.

She said that she was excited to come across the listing right in downtown Manhattan, where she'll be working.

"I found this girl on roommates.com that had an incredible apartment, super cheap for the location in Manhattan," said Jorgenson.

The two exchanged a weeks worth of emails. Then, the potential roommate started to put the pressure on, she said.

"She said there was another woman who was filling out the paperwork to rent the place and I said, 'Fine, give it to her because I can't send the money yet,'" said Jorgenson. "Then she backed off and said, 'No, I'm more comfortable with you. I'll wait until you can send it.'"

Jorgenson admits there were some questionable things about the situation. The potential roommate wouldn't take Jorgenson's phone calls. Jorgenson said that she found another apartment on roomates.com with identical pictures, WISC-TV reported.

The woman made the excuse that it was her cousins' who lived next door, so they just shared the photos.

To be safe, Jorgenson wired the first and last month's rent, $1,400, to her new boss. Her mistake was alerting the roommate that the money had been sent.

"I e-mailed her Saturday night, Sunday, Sunday night and Monday morning and she hadn't e-mailed me back so I thought this is a little sketchy," said Jorgenson. "So, I called MoneyGram just to track it because I knew my boss hadn't picked it up. They said it was already received on that Saturday."

The money was gone.

MoneyGram confirmed that the woman who signed for the money gave the identification of Jorgenson's boss. But, the company wouldn't tell her where the money was withdrawn, only that it was not in New York.

"Criminals love to use MoneyGram and wiring money," said Glen Loyd of Wisconsin's consumer protection. "It's very fast, and they don't have to give their real name or real address. They just pop into the wire office pick up the money and leave."

Authorities said that it makes it nearly impossible for police to track down.

An online search showed nearly every state consumer protection agency had warnings about wiring money, WISC-TV reported.

The scams varied from foreign lotteries and phony prizes to "advance-fee" payments for loans, credit cards, jobs or prizes, but all required consumers to wire money somewhere, most times after cashing a bogus check.

A recent survey of seven states found that one-third of all Western Union transfers to Canada were fraud-induced.

In 2002, Americans lost $113 million to fraudulent wire transfers to Canada, WISC-TV reported.

After filing an initial complaint with MoneyGram, the fraud department has refused to take or return her phone calls.

WISC-TV contacted MoneyGram to ask about security measures, but phone calls weren't returned.

Jorgenson has also filed a reports with the Madison Police Department. She is working on filing complaints with Roommates.com, Wisconsin Trade And Consumer Protection and the Federal Trade Commission.

But despite those best efforts, she said that she realizes the money is most likely gone for good.

"Chances are you're not going to get your money back," said Loyd.

A very expensive life lesson to learn.

"Besides people that I know I probably could never trust another person without going through the friendship process or the work/professional process," said Jorgenson. "I could probably never trust anyone again."

After complaints and threats of lawsuits, Western Union agreed last year to spend $8.1 million on a consumer awareness program to alert consumers to the potential of wire fraud.

If consumers have been scammed out of money using a wire transfer, Wisconsin Trade And Consumer Protection wants to know, 1-800-422-7128. Consumers should also report money wire scams to the Federal Trade Commission, 1-877-FTC-HELP.