In a two part series, Trouble Shooter Julie Matthews takes a look at online romance scams, and offers some tips on how not to get caught.
View part one of the series here:
Exclusive raw video not seen in the series. Julie Matthews turned the tables on online romance scammers by pretending to be 45 year old widow, Brenda Smith on several online dating sites. Two con artists took the bait and carried on a 6 week relationship with her, online, and by phone. This is one of the voicemails from the scammer pretending to be Vant Boven, a 52 year old gold dealer living in Texas. He is really located in Ghana.
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This is a voicemail from a romantic schemer using the name William Holland. He claims to be 42 years old, from the U.K. but working In Ghana, a widower, with a 12 year old daughter.
After two weeks of email and phone chats, the scammer/gold dealer asked us for money, claiming he wanted to ship his gold to Canada so we could find investors here and live happily ever after. He needed financial help to cover the shipping costs. This was one of the conversations between Trouble Shooter Julie Matthews and the romance con artist.
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The CAFC gathers information on frauds and criminal organizations; it then analyzes it for connections between suspects and between victims, then prepare investigative reports. It provides valuable assistance and intelligence to law enforcement and regulatory agencies in Canada, the United States and abroad to assist them in bringing enforcement action against fraudsters. You will have to contact your local police to file a report if you wish the matter to be investigated. You may not want or need the matter investigated, but filing a report with police will at least provide valuable data to Statistics Canada so that a true picture of the level of fraud in Canada can be seen. Nearly 9 in 10 victims don’t report so this makes it difficult for politicians and decision makers to see the true severity of the problem.
– They quickly profess strong feelings for you and suggest moving the conversation away from the website preferring email, instant messaging and/or phone instead.
– After gaining your trust, they tell you an elaborate story and ask for money, gifts or your bank account/credit card details. Beware of sympathetic stories.
– They want you to wire the money via transfer services like Moneygram or Western Union.
– If you don’t send money straightaway, their emails and calls will often become more desperate, persistent or direct.
– The email is poorly written, vague or repeats itself, or you are addressed by the wrong name.
Protect Yourself
– ALWAYS consider the possibility that the approach may be a scam, Try to remove the emotion from your decision making no matter how caring or persistent they seem.
– Google the person’s name and email address.
– Talk to a friend, or relative before you send any money. THINK TWICE before sending money to someone you haven’t met in person.
– NEVER give credit card or online account details to anyone by email.
– Be very careful about how much personal information you share. Scammers can use your information and pictures to create a fake identity or to target you with a scam.
– If you agree to meet in person, tell family and friends where you are going.
– Avoid any arrangement with a stranger that asks for payment via money order, wire transfer or international funds transfer. It is rare to recover money sent this way.
– If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately.
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