United States citizens should be alert to attempts at fraud by persons claiming to live outside of the U.S., professing friendship, roman...
United States citizens should be alert to attempts at fraud by persons claiming to live outside of the U.S., professing friendship, romantic interest, and /or marriage intentions over the Internet.Typically, once a connection is made, the correspondent (who may claim that they are an active duty military service member) may ask the U.S. citizen to send money or credit card information for living expenses, travel expenses, attorney expenses, or "visacosts". Sometimes, the correspondent notifies the American citizen that a close family member, usually the mother, is in desperate need of surgery and begins to request monetary assistance. Scams have even advanced to the point where the U.S. citizen is informed of a serious or fatal accident to the correspondent and the “family” asks for money to cover hospital or funeral costs.
Several citizens report losing thousands of dollars through such scams.
The anonymity of the Internet means that the U.S. citizen cannot be sure of the real name, age, marital status, nationality, employment, or even gender of the correspondent. In every case reported to the embassy, the correspondent turned out to be a fictitious persona created only to lure the U.S. citizen into sending money.
These scammers have created male as well as female characters and entice same sex correspondents as well as those of the opposite sex. A disturbing recent twist are scammers who have connected to U.S. citizens through chat rooms for HIV positive individuals, posed as HIV positive individuals themselves, and asked for money for treatment or travel to the United States.
Correspondents who quickly move to professions of romantic interest or discussion of intimate matters are likely inventions of scammers. A request for funds almost always marks a fraudulent correspondent. U.S. citizens are cautioned against sending any money to persons they have not actually met.
Romance scams involve one or more – sometimes all – of the key signs below:
- The scammer and the victim meet online – often through Internet dating or employment sites.
- The scammer asks for money to get out of a bad situation or to provide a service.
- Photographs that the scammer sends of “him/herself” show a very attractive person. The photo appears to have been taken at a professional modeling agency or photographic studio.
- The scammer has incredibly bad luck-- often getting into car crashes, arrested, mugged, beaten, or hospitalized -- usually all within the course of a couple of months. They often claim that their key family members (parents and siblings) are dead. Sometimes, the scammer claims to have an accompanying child overseas who is very sick or has been in an accident.
- The scammer claims to be a native-born American citizen, but uses poor grammar indicative of a non-native English speaker. Sometimes the scammer will use eloquent romantic language that is plagiarized from the Internet.
Gorgeous People in Trouble – The Soldier in Distress
The Setup: An American woman meets an alleged American man through an online dating service. After a successful online courtship, the two agree to meet. However, before they do, he must travel overseas to serve his country in the military. While out of the U.S., he befalls an unexpected tragedy. His life and freedom are in danger, and is counting on him to help her through this difficult time.
The Tragic Circumstances: The traveler allegedly becomes a victim of a violent crime, and needs assistance taking care of theirhospital bill. If he does not pay the bill, he could face imprisonment. Often, he claims that he has contacted the U.S. Embassy, but has been refused help.
The Expected Payoff: If she is sympathetic and assists him through his sudden crisis, the girlfriend stands to gain a large degree of gratitude from the young soldier. If all goes well, his gratitude for this emotional support will translate, she hopes, into significant goodwill and affection from him when they finally meet.
The Financial Catch: Part 1: Eventually his needs change from emotional support to financial assistance. The tragedy that befell him entails monetary costs – he must pay the hospital fees before he can return to see his new love. The financial needs range from $500 for bribes to $2,000 for the hospital. The unfortunate traveler ends up having serious problems on his way to America. Even after his American girlfriend pays his visa fees and contributes several hundred dollars toward his plane ticket, there are still many more unforeseen expenses.
Part 2: He discovers the host government has a requirement that all departing citizens must prove that they have sufficient funds for travel.
Part 3: To make matters worse, when he finally overcomes all the bureaucratic hurdles – thanks to the girlfriend’s largesse – he has trouble in transit. During his stopover en route, he is allegedly detained by airport immigration authorities who believe his visa to be fake. Now he needs additional funds to pay a fine before embarking for America.
The Emotional Catch: In an effort to move the on-line relationship forward, the scam artist is quick to identify himself as the victim’s “boyfriend,” or even “fiancée,” sometimes with promises of marriage as soon as he can return.
The Bottom Line: The above-described scenario is particularly effective because it is not random spam, but is targeted at a specific victim. This scam has innumerable variations. Sometimes the young man – or woman -- in distress claims to be an American self-employed businessman, or Nigerian-American (thus the need to return to Nigeria for family reasons), a British citizen, occasionally not even American at all. Sometimes victims hear from a Nigerian “doctor” who claims to be treating the victim’s friend. Often the victim claims to have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta (the oil-producing region of southern Nigeria). What all the alleged unlucky travelers to Nigeria have in common, of course, is that they all need money. The scam artist may not
even be the same gender as his/her on-line identity. Some victims speak on the phone with their on-line friend/scammer. In some cases, victims have already met their on-line correspondent in person once or twice; other aspects of the scam remain identical.
In all, the American citizen victim can lose any or all of the following: Over $10,000 for hospital bills, $200 for visa fees, $800 for supplementing the plane ticket, $1,000 to supply the BTA [requirement that no longer exists], $500 for the fine at Heathrow, and hundreds in international phone bills.
Given the amount of time and effort spent by the perpetrator laying the groundwork, many American victims have trouble believing they are being scammed. Victims often report that they had been corresponding with the love interest (scammer) for several months, and only grudgingly recognize the scam for what it is after they learn of the economic realities of life in Nigeria.
Victims of this scam should review our brochure on Resources for Victims of International Financial Scams.
Example A: Emails received by U.S. Consulate General Lagos from concerned victims of romance scams (messages edited for clarity and grammar; names are abbreviated)
Message 1:
Through Yahoo Personals, I was chatting with a woman who claims to be held against her will in a hotel in Lagos for her inability to pay the bill, which she claims wasn't hers to pay in the first place. She also claims the hotel manager seized her passport and her return flight ticket to the US, and will not give them back to her until she pays.
Message 2:
I received the following communiqué from an American citizen named Ms. D. She claims that she had traveled to Nigeria and had her belongings stolen and is "stranded" there. Ms. D. tells me that her return airline ticket is being held "hostage" pending payment of a $500 hotel bill. She indicated that she is at the M. Hotel and that the manager there is named Mr. S.
Ms. D. has stated that she had her American Express charge card stolen but was told by AmEx that nothing could be done about it.......... I find this a bit strange; however, in light of the state of the world's attitude towards Americans, I believe some prudence be exercised in this situation. Accordingly, would you please investigate this situation and help this lady as much as you can.
Message 3:
My boyfriend is stranded in Lagos. His personal assistant has left him there with no money and has stolen his money. He has no way of getting home. I have sent him all the money I can to help him get a plane ticket home. He still needs $300. Is there anything that can be done? He is a United States citizen. He is from Jacksonville, Florida.
He is in the hospital now, because of the stress of being stranded there. He is in a very bad condition. Having severe pains in his chest. His name is J.A. I am not sure how many hospitals are in Lagos. I am still trying to get more details. If there is anything that can be done, please contact me and let me know please.
Message 4:
My fiancée is there in Lagos, Nigeria. She has been there for about 2 years in school. Thursday evening she was in a car accident and rushed to S. Hospital. She is an American and her name is S.J. from Kinston, NC. She speaks with a heavy African accent after being there for two years.
I have attempted to send her money so that she can leave the country, and both times the guy at Western Union stole the money.
Please help her. Nigeria is no place for an American – especially a woman with no friends, no family and no money.
Message 5:
I am writing to you because I have a very unsettling situation that has occurred. My fiancée departed Lagos via British Airways.She was detained by immigration officials at London’s Heathrow Airport. I received a telephone call from an immigration officer.
She told me that my fiancée had been detained for expired documents and that they were going to deport my fiancée, unless I, being her fiancé and sponsor, would pay $2,500 in total fines for violating immigration law. She said that if I can raise the money in time, that they would release her and provide her with new documents so that she could continue her travel to the U.S.
The officer contacted me later and we began discussion over the fines total amount. She stated that there was an actual fine of $1,200 for the violation. I stated that I think I could raise $1,200 to pay. She said if I do that, then my fiancée could still be released and given new documents to continue travel.
On 9 Oct 2004, I collected $1,200 and sent the money electronically, via the Money Gram Store. I was happy to send the money because I thought that the immigration officials would release my fiancée.
Since Tuesday, 12 Oct. 2004, I have not heard from the immigration officer or my fiancée. I have attempted to contact her via telephone but she never answers. Only the voice messaging service answers to leave a message.
I have been very stressed, worrying and hoping that my fiancée, be released and be allowed to continue travel to U.S. to be with me. I have not heard from her since this ordeal has happened. I want to know if she is in good health and that she is okay.
Please, I request of you for help in this terrible situation and I thank you, in advance, for any help you may provide
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