Facebook users repeatedly receive dubious friend requests from complete strangers - but be careful! This could be a pure rip-off!
“I've been getting friend requests from Americans since this morning. Have you ever heard of this and what do they want from me?”
Yes! We've heard about it before.
These are so-called romance or love scammers.
The police have been warning about this nasty scam for years.
For example, in a case of so-called “love scamming” or “romance scamming”, a 51-year-old woman from Gifhorn was defrauded of around 40,000 euros.
At the end of March, the woman received a friend request on her Facebook account from a supposedly 55-year-old American. Since the man looked nice, the woman from Gifhorn agreed and gave her consent. The 55-year-old introduced himself as a naval engineer who would work on a ship off Scotland. He is widowed and has a 17-year-old son. In the period that followed, private things and photos were sent back and forth. From the Gifhorn woman's point of view, they both fell in love with each other during this time. In this context, the 55-year-old announced that he would soon be giving up his job and moving with his son to live with the 51-year-old in Gifhorn.
In the following weeks, the 55-year-old then used flimsy reasons to persuade the unsuspecting woman to make several bank transfers totaling around 40,000 euros. Among other things, partial amounts should be transferred to middlemen via Western Union in the USA and Ghana.
The entire fraud was finally exposed after a money laundering case was investigated against a woman from Baden-Württemberg. This procedure also involved, among other things, a transfer from the Gifhorn resident to the alleged American.
The police provide the following prevention tips for this scam:
How do I recognize a romance or love scammer?
When making contact:
Scammers get email addresses via networks or dating sites. A brief email in English with an invitation to chat serves as a lure. Since the scammers often work with German email addresses, it is rarely obvious that there is a scammer behind the nice lines. Stay away from chat names with unusual characters (e.g. percent signs) - these send software with your messages that can harm the computer.
About the language:
The scammers usually communicate in good English. Insiders assume that around 95 percent of English-speaking contacts on German dating sites are romance or love scammers. However, there are also many who speak perfect German.
About the pictures:
The pictures are blurry and only posted on the internet in very low resolution because they were stolen. Exception: Scam women prefer to lure their victims with beautiful photos in which they can often be seen scantily clad.
The content of the emails:
After the first contact, scammers bombard their victims with long letters full of bombastic vows of love. They are easy to recognize by their exuberant declarations of love and expressions of love. But there is another way: emails that appear serious should arouse interest. Scammers often want to know everything about their victim: hobbies, former partners, children, friends, and belief in God always plays a role. Important: The scammers soon refer to their new partners as “husband” or “wife” and make marriage plans. That's why the request for a visa or a joint account seems justified.
For connections to West Africa/Russia/Southeast Asia:
Whether it's a business trip or family problems, there are many reasons for a connection to Nigeria, Ghana, etc. Women, on the other hand, often live in Eastern European/Southeast Asian/South American countries.
Requests for money / visa / sending parcels or letters / joint account:
There are many reasons to ask the victim for money. If they refuse to send money, fraudsters will find other ways. This includes forged checks that are supposed to be deposited in Germany. At the moment there is a strong desire to be invited to Germany. Here the fraudsters not only want to live at the expense of their victims, but also continue to work on behalf of the Nigeria Connection. The fraudsters also manage to cleverly abuse the victims for their own purposes, for example by sending them letters or packages to third parties. Scam women often beg for invitations to Germany. The fraudsters often pretend to want to open a joint account with the victim and ask for copies of ID cards. The data is used to forge passports. Tip: Enter the name of your internet acquaintance with the addition “Scammer” into Google, for example. In many cases, the search engine can confirm suspicions.
What to do if I get scammed?
Block:
Stop all contact immediately. Stop accepting emails and calls from scammers. It is best to get a new email address and telephone number. There is also a risk for friends in the social network and for all contacts in your own email address book. The perpetrators usually also send a computer virus with their emails. This scans the data in the email address book and also allows other control over the victim's computer.
Ignore:
Do not respond to the scammer’s demands. Under no circumstances should you transfer money, cash checks or forward letters and packages - nor do you keep them. Reverse payments made immediately, if possible.
Save:
Save all emails and chat texts on a CD-ROM as evidence. Keep transfer receipts etc. If you can't do it yourself, have computer-savvy friends and acquaintances read the so-called email header for you. This shows you where the email was sent from. Self-help sites on the Internet also explain how you can protect yourself from greater damage.
Delete:
After backing up, delete all evidence data from your hard drive. Don't forget to delete the email account too.
Get help:
Go to the police. Prosecuting such perpetrators is extremely difficult because they operate from abroad. However, you should definitely report the incident. This is particularly important if, for example, banks want to take criminal action against victims who unknowingly submitted forged checks.
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