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By 
2/18/2013
Romance scams have become a global phenomenon that began in Nigeria but have since spread worldwide, with criminals based in nearly every developed country as well as the developing world.
If you’re meeting people online, whether it’s an online dating site like Match.com or a social network like Facebook, you’re at risk. Private investigators and privacy experts say no site is 100% immune from fraud, so it’s up to internet users to stay skeptical. International investigators say Romania scams are one of the fastest growing countries internet fraud and romance scams.
As the economy and employment situation remains grim in Europe, internet users are at an increased risk from one industry that is booming – romance scams and dating fraud. Criminals based in Romania are more active than ever. Online scammers target internet users on match making sites, online dating sites, and major social networks. Their goal is to slowly gain your trust, and law enforcement agencies are receiving more complaints than ever before. Law enforcement agencies often have jurisdictional problems, and are overwhelmed with requests, so the bottom line is that many scam victims have limited options. Once the damage is done, it is often too late. Investigators emphasize the important of dating background checks early.
Most of the scams coming from the Baltic Region and Eastern Europe have the same modus operandi, and Romania is no exception. Someone, usually a woman sends you an unrequested email (spam) to your personal account and says she’s seen your photo or profile on Facebook. Or, it may be even someone you’ve contacted on cams or adult chatting website. Scammers also work to scam victims on major social networking site or online dating site. One way or another, the criminals will contact you or quickly respond to you online, pursuing a serious relationship. They hope to gain your trust and personal data, and then, of course, your money.
Scammers gain your trust and your feelings. If you think you’re too smart or careful to be a victim, don’t be too sure. Many experienced scammers in Romania may not even ask you for your money or personal data. Some instead may choose to send you an attachment or file to install a virus on your computer, then accessing your passwords and personal data to steal your identity.
Investigators advise that whenever you begin an internet relationship, or are communicating with someone online you don’t know, you cannot rely on what you read over the internet, and cannot just Google the contact information to find out the truth. Verifying a person abroad requires a skilled investigator in the country or city where you need them, who is properly trained and has the resources to verify a person, and all their information. It is the only way to be safe.
All the best,
S. Birch
© 2013 S. Birch
Posts
Not only scams.
ReplyDeleteI was involved with a Romanian woman who was not a scammer but trouble, and on top of it, the daughter of the last regional Communist party secretary.
I lived in the city with her for a year and left her because of her "Prima Donna" behaviour.
Shortly after I was attacked by 3 men who I later discovered to be ex securitate officers. Fortunately I grew up in a very tough part of the Black Country and I was the last man standing.
This scammer approached me on Facebook claiming he found me through our common facebook friends. He is a good looking guy. His timeline photos shows a mixture of both good and ugly pictures at different angles and time with extensive information on his profile. His facebook profile was Henry Roy and was constructed 2011. He got few friends and several postings on his timeline since 2011 to recent. He claimed to be an Irish descent who relocated to Bristol UK. He claimed to be a Project Engineer with 6 months project in Sabah Malaysia, constructing a bridge. This scam is very good and use all the reverse psychology on his tricks of books. Everything what is written about how the online romance scammer works was reversed to sound like you are chatting to a normal real person looking for a serious relationship. It was hardly detectable. No flowery words to lure you, all but seems like a normal chatting you do with real people online. He asked lots of questions to get to know me. He send lots and lots of photos. Every photos come with a convincing stories. The first few 6 weeks started about getting to know each other. Courtship started only after about 4 weeks. During the early days to few weeks, he only give hints all his desire to find someone to settle down for life. He said that at his stage in his life, he have accomplished everything he wanted in his life except having a loving wife and family. He indicated that if he found someone, he would like to get married in about 3-6 months time. He also indicated that relocation and rearranging his life and career to be with the woman he loves. He claimed that he haven't had relationship for 6 years as he can't trust woman, until he met me. He claimed that knowing me and chatting with me makes his life happy again. He sounded a normal thoughtful guy with keen interest on me, who is willing to travel and relocate to meet me first and see if we can work out things with our meeting and potential relationship. The way he found me is through the act of God or destiny bringing us together. He sounded like we have a lot in common. He seems like he did astrological profiling of me or their victims. What is bizzare even is that we have the same birthdate. They converse as if they are really intelligent professional, no errors on grammar, or punctuation etc which is common in Nigerian scammers. Their sentence are very well constructed and when you are chatting with them, their response is quick. One thing about him also is that he is a church goer and God fearing person. It's only after few weeks time of grooming me that they get to the next level by showing how sweet they are and claimed to be the person you are longing to be in your life. They know all the nice words to say. They have prepared a convincing evidence as well like a booking confirmation from Kuala Lumpur to melbourne, which he emailed it to me to prove that he is flying to meet me and see if we can make a happy future togeather. To prove that he is a well off successful businessman, he booked for a Business class One way ticket, with the intention of staying in a 5 class hotel. Asking for money didn't get until the last 2 days of his intended arrival to Melbourne. He claimed he forgot his wallet on the taxi with all his credit cards. The way he asked for money is not too vulgar asking money from you. He get the conversation to let you do the offering for financial help. I ended up offering financial help which he said he will return it back to me once he got his new card from UK. That went uneventful until the time I excitedly waited for his intended arrival to airport, that he didn't showed up and realized I was scammed. I did some search on the photos he provided me and later found out that it was an stolen photos from Nico Tijsen.
ReplyDeleteI was scammed by a Romanian woman on myfreecams. we talked for many months. she said her mother died and she was alone now and wanted to come to the us. everything she said I checked out. she needed a passport, visa, money to ship her things and airfare. then she needed to clear up bills and eat....I didn't realize she was a scammer until her bags never showed up.... she goes by several names, on mfc she is acuteblonde, she also goes by kelykely, real name is ninela hussar from calarasi, Romania, be careful of her, she is a fraud
ReplyDelete