On-Line Dating Scams

On Line Dating Scams

Online dating scams have become big business in this internet world that we all live in. $175,000,000 dollars was lost in California alone in 2017. £41,000,000 was stolen from unsuspecting ladies in the United Kingdom for that same period.

All dating sites seem to be at risk from fraudsters. The fraudsters come in all shapes and sizes. All using different tactics to relieve you of your money. Be cautious  when going on line to meet the love of your life. In recent months we have two extreme cases. Firstly a middle aged lady located in Dubai handing over $115,000 to an English gentleman or so she thought.

She was convinced that the man taking the money was an educated businessman from Manchester, he’d supposedly been to Stamford University in the USA and was now based in London. They struck up a relationship via text, whatsapp and email. They never met. Monies were sent by Western Union. Alarm bells should have rung, firstly when Western Union was used and secondly when the payee was a Nigerian name. Through extensive work and tracking, 50% of the funds were recovered………….the lady in question was extremely fortunate.

Yet Another Case

Another case we have recently worked on involved a 53 year old female UK citizen meeting on singlemuslim.com a 35 year old man who although resided in Dubai originated from Pakistan.

Almost within the first day of messaging the two seemed to become a couple. Although of course they had never met, which in its self seems amazing but monies were requested by the gentleman to assist him to get back on his feet having fallen on hard times. Tens of thousands of pounds were sent to this man in Dubai who the lady had never met. Eventually the lady did visit Dubai for one week and saw what she was funding. The fraudster was living in the tallest building in the world, the Burg Khalifa Tower. Rental in excess of £36,000! More monies were sent from the UK to fund the fraudsters life style. Monies were sent directly from a UK bank to Dubai. The British Police visited our client, the female party to warn against sending further monies. They had been alerted by her bankers, she didn’t take their advise and sent even more money. The fraudster claimed a £49,500 payment was actually being held by his bank while they investigated the source of the funds. He requested a further transfer………..she sent a further payment!

The fraudster even claimed that he needed £150,000 to conclude a business deal in Mozambique, guess what ‘Pirates’ captured his cargo so required yet more money. And yes more funds were sent. In total a staggering £436,000 was sent to this man in Dubai. What is astonishing, the female party is a professional women in her mid fifties. Was completely taken in and continued to shower this man with money.

This is an extraordinary case, where clearly religion has got in the way and been used by the fraudster to prey on the innocent party.