On Tuesday (August 16), the police received two reports of “romance scamming” incidents. A 75-year-old woman from Wermelskirchen and a 46-year-old woman from Overather became victims of fraudsters who each stole large amounts of money.

A fake businessman from Liverpool

The 75-year-old victim told the police that she met a man named Frank George on Facebook and then continued chatting with him on WhatsApp. The fraudster, allegedly a businessman from Liverpool, claimed to the Wermelskirchen woman that he had lost his wife and was currently in Cyprus with their 14-year-old son. A shipment was supposed to be shipped there that customs were allegedly holding back due to a lack of customs duties.

The senior citizen transferred the money to the specified account. The fraudster then demanded further large sums of money as “royalties” and for the delivery of the goods within Cyprus. The injured party transferred a total of three amounts totaling 21,000 euros.

When the fraudster then demanded a further 11,000 euros, the senior citizen turned to her bank to take out a loan. An attentive employee at a bank in Wermelskirchen inquired about the intended use and then alerted the police.

The sick man on an oil platform in Qatar

In the second “romance scamming” case, a 46-year-old Overather woman told the police that she had met a man named David Roland Ross from Dallas (USA) via Instagram, to whom she subsequently transferred two sums in the low four-digit range. The fraudster stated that he was working on an oil platform for a company in Qatar and that he urgently needed money for a helicopter ride to land due to a serious illness. He said he would later transfer $100,000 to Overather as a thank you for her trust.

The Rhein-Berg police once again warn against the “romance scamming” scam, in which fraudsters try to first gain the trust and then the money of their victims.

Police tips against “romance scamming”

  • In general, you should never make transfers to unknown people.
  • In general, be careful when making acquaintances on the Internet. The fraudsters, known as “scammers,” often contact social media platforms via false profiles with extremely attractive pictures and initially shower their victims with compliments and expressions of love. The fraudsters then pretend to be in an emergency situation, e.g. traveling abroad, death of close relatives, serious illness, theft of funds or luggage, etc., in order to ultimately ask their victims for transfers.
  • If you have been a victim of romance scamming, report it to the police.

Article image: unsplash
Source: PP/Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis Police

Also interesting:

“Best earning opportunities, flexible working hours, little work” – criminals use such supposedly attractive job offers to lure their victims on Ebay classifieds.
- Danger! False job advertisements on eBay classifieds


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Notes:
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