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Romance scam


SCAMMERS TOOK HER LIFE SAVINGS — THEN, SHE GOT AN EMAIL FROM THE ‘CIA'


WHEN A WOMAN STARTED SHARING WITH US HOW SHE BECAME A VICTIM OF A ROMANCE SCAM,
A PERSON POSING AS A CIA AGENT REACHED OUT, CLAIMING SHE HAD BEEN TALKING TO A
TERRORIST IMPERSONATING PEOPLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND COULD FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES
HERSELF

BY MATT FORTIN • PUBLISHED JANUARY 19, 2024 • UPDATED ON JANUARY 19, 2024 AT
6:31 AM


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CARJACKERS. THE DRIVER WAS OKAY, BUT STOPPED IS THAT A SIGN HE WILL BE BACK



 

NBC Universal, Inc.

What “Alice” thought was a budding romance turned into a months-long nightmare,
when she lost her life savings and was threatened with criminal charges by
scammers posing as federal law enforcement.

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A woman who lost tens of thousands of dollars in an apparent online romance scam
began to be harassed by scammers posing as federal law enforcement after NBC10
Boston began looking into her case — and she says there is still no sign of her
lost life savings.

The woman, a Massachusetts native who we're calling Alice because she asked to
remain anonymous, says that after losing over $150,000 in the online scam, she
was contacted by cyber criminals posing as CIA agents threatening her with
criminal charges if she did not cooperate with their orders — namely, not to
discuss the situation with anyone, including her lawyer.

"The way that people who do the frauds and the scams seem to get away with
things" has left Alice discouraged, she says.

In our September story about Alice's situation, she described the monthslong
online correspondence she had with a man who she met on a dating site. He seemed
like a hardworking family man but told her he ran into trouble while on an
overseas oil pipeline project. She wire transferred him money to help him out of
the seemingly endless problems he told her he was having.

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> inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.

Then, she realized she was being duped.


A local woman lost her life savings in an apparent online dating scam.

Months after the loss, and about a month after NBC10 Boston reached out to the
person Alice was communicating with, she received an email with a subject line
reading, "THE CIA IN COLLABORATION WITH THE FBI."

The email message purportedly from the CIA described the person she had been
dating online and was scammed by, saying that he was actually a terrorist
impersonating people on social media. The email threatened her with criminal
charges for financing terrorism and said Alice was now under CIA watch. It
warned her not to discuss the situation with anyone — not a "family member,
friend or loved one" — or else she could be charged with "negligent spillage."

The email's domain was from outlook.com — not the .gov domain the federal agency
told NBC10 Boston its communications would come from.

Things escalated further for Alice. She was texted by a purported CIA agent
named Michael Donovan, who claimed to be working on the case. She even spoke to
him multiple times on the phone. He provided a photo of a CIA ID badge, one
that's available is on eBay — down to the employee ID number.


A screenshot of a fake CIA badge available for sale on eBay.

Provided to NBC10 Boston

An image of a purported CIA badge that was sent to Alice in a text from an
apparent scammer.

"It also mentioned in there that if I needed to contact a lawyer or anything,
then possibly I wouldn't be able to get my money back," Alice says about the
communications she received. "Saying that I could be involved in this, where I
was the one giving them money for illegal guns and stuff, so that I would have
to answer some questions."

She says she didn't hear from "Agent Donovan" after telling him she would only
want to meet at a local police station.


Provided to NBC10 Boston

A series of text messages by a supposed CIA agent to Alice.

We reached out to the email address that contacted Alice, and have not received
a response.


UNDERSTANDING ROMANCE SCAMS AND SCAMMERS

Alice is not alone in being scammed while looking for love.

In 2022, nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam, with losses hitting $1.3
billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The agency has shared romance scammers' favorite lies to tell their victims:

 * "I or someone close to me is sick, hurt, or in jail."
 * "I can teach you how to invest."
 * "I'm in the military far away."
 * "I need help with an important delivery."
 * "We've never met, but let's talk about marriage."
 * "I've come into some money or gold."
 * "I'm on an oil rig or ship."
 * "You can trust me with your private pictures."

"Romance scams are one of the most brutal forms of scams that I've ever seen,"
said Doug Fodeman, the executive director of online scam-awareness publication
The Daily Scam.

Fodeman, of Marblehead, is a retired computer teacher who now focuses much of
his time on educating the general public about online scams. He documents all
types of scams by speaking directly to victims, and even tracks cyber criminals
overseas himself.

"The most successful romance scammers, who literally make this their profession,
they're exceptionally good at winning over a person's trust," Fodeman said.
"They come off as unbelievably, kind, empathetic and compassionate."



"And especially if you combine that with their ideal victim, is someone who has
been hurting, someone who's in emotional pain because of loss or because of a
relationship that's fallen out or loneliness."

Fodeman said there needs to be more resources available to help scam victims,
and believes banks and tech companies need to do more to protect consumers.

"Our government has to do more to put up guardrails to safeguard its citizens
against internet fraud," Fodeman said. "In today's day and age, our lives are
lived on the internet."


It's not just The Tinder Swindler. $547 million was lost to romance scams in
2021, up 80% from the prior year. Unfortunately, dating apps can't guarantee
that the person you're messaging has your best interests in mind. So we talked
to sex and relationships researcher Justin Lehmiller for tips on protecting
yourself from scams when you're looking for love.

Boston University professor Kyung-Shick Choi, a cybercrime and cybersecurity
expert, designs training programs for law enforcement.

"We don't have [enough] human resources in cyber investigation," he said. "So
we're trying to kind of build our capacity, but we are not there yet."

Meanwhile, Alice has been working with an attorney and has claimed that Chase
Bank was negligent in allowing her to send so much money with what she said were
too few limits on what she could spend.

"Even though they say, 'You sent the wire transfers,' it at least should have
been questioned about why so much," Alice says. "And also, looking at the amount
in the account, knowing that at the end of it, there was nothing."

"Nobody wants to take control and to say, 'Well, maybe we need to change the
system,'" she adds.

A Chase Bank spokesperson referred us to a statement they gave for the earlier
story about Alice's situation: “We are sorry that [Alice] was a victim of this
scam and we know these situations are heartbreaking. We urge all consumers to
ignore phone, text or internet requests for money or access to their computer or
bank accounts.


MORE SCAM NEWS



news Jan 18


‘FRAUD IS AT A CRISIS LEVEL,' SAYS EXPERT: 5 FINANCIAL SCAMS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN
2024

Boston University Jan 12


PARENTS OF 6 BU STUDENT-ATHLETES TARGETED BY ARREST SCAMMERS, POLICE SAY

THIS ARTICLE TAGGED UNDER:

Romance scamCyber Crime


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