A 39-year-old woman from Grimmen has fallen victim to a so-called “romance scam”. The fraudster asked them to get prepaid code cards.
Romance scam: Since mid-September, she has been writing via Instagram and hangouts with a “Richard Wise,” supposedly a US Army soldier on a peacekeeping mission in Nigeria. The fraudster managed to build a relationship of trust by feigning love.
Finally, he revealed a family emergency that he could not solve due to his assignment abroad and asked for money in the form of Steam cards. After a lot of messaging, the injured party finally responded and sent photos of the cards worth EUR 200 (these can be activated using the visible numbers).
In mid-October, the soldier again demanded money, which this time should be transferred through Western Union. He had a massive impact on his victim, put him under pressure and demanded the money as a token of his love. However, the 39-year-old now asked for evidence of its authenticity in the form of video calls or personalized photos. Of course he couldn't provide this. Although the fraudster continued to increase the emotional pressure, the injured party correctly decided to file a complaint.
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Romance scamming or love scamming is a type of marriage scam in the digital world and is part of the Nigeria Connection - the synonym for advance payment fraud. The Nigeria Connection has been active worldwide since the 1980s. What began with letters and faxes has taken on unimagined proportions with the help of the Internet. Love fraud is one of the most perfidious of these countless scams.
The perpetrators are not targeting the victims' desire to enrich themselves, but rather bring the victims into an emotional dependency and fake the creation or existence of a love relationship. On the one hand, it takes longer for the victim to see through the fraud, and on the other hand, the victim is more ashamed. Often the victim does not even reveal themselves to their own social environment, let alone to the police. The dark field can hardly be estimated.
How do romance scammers operate?
First, the perpetrators - mostly West Africans - create reputable profiles on various online platforms. Using stolen photos (often models), the men pose as doctors, engineers or soldiers and the women as nurses, stewardesses or teachers. Fantastic CVs are created using all the clichés.
The perpetrators use their fake identities to search for potential victims on social networks or online dating sites. They speak perfect English and sometimes German, although often with the help of expensive translation tools.
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As in the case described at the beginning, a relationship with the victim is built up over a longer period of time, making them emotionally dependent and putting them under pressure. After only a short contact, long vows of love follow. The actually well-off scammer ends up innocently getting into an emergency situation and needs the help of his true love. Often, plane tickets should also be purchased to finally make a personal encounter possible.
What can I do if I suspect a romance scam?
Since the scammers often use the same pleasant-sounding names, you can enter them into a search engine with the addition of “Scammer”. In many cases, hits there can save you from fraud. If you have an image, start the reverse image search. You may end up with agency photos of models or receive information that this person has already become known as a fraudster.
What should I do if I have actually become a victim of fraud?
Stop all contact immediately. Block the perpetrator on all channels. If you ignore all of the scammer's demands, try to reverse payments that have already been made through your bank. Back up all chat histories and emails and save them. Keep transfer receipts. Report it to the police! Overcome your possible shame and go to the police. Such cases are well known here and help can be offered to you. Prosecution is difficult because the fraudsters are based abroad, but you should still report the crime.
You might also be interested in: “Romance Scam” – Men are also the target of scammers
Source: Neubrandenburg Police
Article image: Drpixel / Shutterstock.com
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