IbnAlAawam
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Beware the lonely hearts rip off
Beware the lonely hearts rip off
By Sarah Modlock
Most law-abiding people may worry about crime such a burglary or mugging. They don't expect to have their money stolen by someone they love. Although the awareness and prevention of online crime such as identity theft is much higher than it was even
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a couple of years ago, new scams are being invented all the time and the latest is designed to get to your cash via your heart.
You may already be familiar with Nigerian 'advanced fee' or '419' fraud (named after the relevant section of the Nigerian Criminal Code). There are myriad schemes and scams - mail, faxed and telephone promises designed to part victims from their money. All involve requests to help move large sums of money with the promise of a substantial share of the cash in return. Individual monetary losses can range from the low thousands into multi-millions. But the true figures are often impossible to ascertain, because many victims, embarrassed by their naiveté and feeling personally humiliated and do not report the crime to the authorities.
Fraud costs the UK around £20bn a year and £3bn of that is through internet scams. Now 'lonely hearts' fraud is a growing threat to those using Internet chatrooms or dating websites and many ordinary, hard-working people have been duped into starting online relationships with confidence tricksters. They often lose their personal savings when their new 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' suddenly needs cash, supposedly for an operation or to travel.
A typical case will involve a man or woman from another country building a relationship over time through email and phone calls. For example, 'Tom' is based in Houston and after several months of 'courtship', he says that he will come to the UK to visit his new love but has to go to Africa on business first. He's so excited to be finally meeting you. He then calls a few days later in a huge panic. His car has been stopped by thieves who have taken his passport and money and he is desperate for money to get out of the country. He can repay you every penny of the £10,000 as soon as he is in your arms in the UK, of course. In reality, the person you trusted and even cared for takes your money and is never heard from again.
Love and pride
It may not even be that dramatic. Your new love may be hard up and your desire to see them so great that you send them the cash for the airline ticket. David Hodgkinson, from Margate in Kent advertised his profile on a variety of internet dating sites and was approached by a Russian woman called 'Natalia'. He sent her £10,000 so that she could obtain a visa and purchase a ticket to fly over and meet him in the UK but after being given a variety of arrival dates he went to Heathrow to meet her four times but she never arrived. "I feel no ill will in my heart. I did really love her," Hodgkinson told the BBC. Apparently once bitten but not shy. Hodgkinson then tried a Christian dating site and stared chatting with a woman from Senegal. He sent her £6,000 but again she failed to turn up. Hodgkinson borrowed money from his elderly mother and remortgaged his home to pay for the two girls. His mother is now taking out a loan to clear his debts. "I did tell him off about keeping going to Heathrow," she said. "In my heart I knew they wouldn't ever turn up. But he never listened," she said.
But are people really falling for this? Surely no one is that trusting? I asked Mike Bowron, Commissioner of the City of London Police, the force which leads the UK's fight against fraud. "We're seeing more and more of this," he says "We are keen to get the message out so that people don't fall for it." Bowron says that so-called 'lonely hearts fraud' is usually perpetrated by the same criminals who worked the '419' scam. "The 419 crew realise that people are wising-up to that and so they decided to try a different approach and moved onto lonely hearts. It's already paying off for them. It's not just women that are falling for it; there are plenty of women laying the bait for unsuspecting men, too," he explains.
It's easy to think 'I wouldn't fall for that - these things happen to other people' but they are happening more and more in the UK. A boom in lonely hearts websites has made vulnerable, genuine people targets for thieves who seduce their money from them. Earlier this year 22-year-old Emma Golightly from Wallsend, North Tyneside was jailed for two years after she used lonely hearts adverts to target men and steal their cash, conning more than £250,000 from five men. In another recent case David Davies, 52, was ordered to pay back more than £100,000 he charmed from vulnerable women he met through online dating sites, wooing them with false stories of life in the SAS and top- secret work for the Government.
"It used to be said, 'No one walks down the street in fear of being embezzled'. Well increasingly they do," says Mike Bowron."Whereas once the average Briton dreaded being burgled or having their car broken into, they are now worried about identity fraud, mass marketing scams and other forms of financial crime that have a serious impact on our lives. Long gone is the notion that fraud is a victimless crime."
If you or someone you know is keen on internet dating, think twice before sending money to anyone you meet online, however well you feel you know - or 'love' - them and however long you have been in touch. There is a very good chance that you will never see the cash again.
Useful links:
* Worried about identity fraud?
* Ten ways to keep your ID safe
