This week, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has indicted 80 suspects in a romance fraud ring that sought to steal $40 million. The con artists successfully stole $6 million.
Many of those who were indicted were Nigerian nationals. Federal authorities were able to arrest 14 people in the United States, many in the Los Angeles area. Many of the others who were indicted are believed to be in Nigeria.
In some cases, the con artists would claim to be U.S. military members overseas. They often would ask for monetary help with alleged emergencies or for “travel” to meet their new romantic friend, the victim. The elderly can be particularly vulnerable to this scam.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that in 2018, romance scams were the number one scam reported to it with more than 21,000 reported for a loss of $143 million.
It is rare to hear about a major bust of scam artists. This case points to the difficulties that federal law enforcement agencies have in prosecuting these cases. Often the suspects work beyond our national borders requiring assistance from foreign countries that may not be easily obtained. This case does show that federal law enforcement officials do prosecute scammers when they can.
You can protect yourself by,
·
Never sending money or gifts to a “sweetheart”
that you have not met in person.
·
Talking to someone you trust about your new love
interest.
·
Do a reverse image search of the person’s
profile picture to see if it is associated with another name or with details that
do not matchup to what the person has told you.
If you suspect that your online romance is a scam, or you discover that you have been scammed, report it to www.ftc.gov/complaint.
CBS News:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/online-fraud-scheme-that-stole-million-dozens-indicted-today-2019-08-22/
The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/23/fraudsters-tried-steal-more-than-million-one-biggest-online-scam-cases-us-history/
Federal Trade Commission:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/data-spotlight/2019/02/romance-scams-rank-number-one-total-reported-losses
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-you-need-know-about-romance-scams
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