A man befriends a woman in her 60s or 70s through Facebook or a dating site, flattering her with lines like “Hey, beautiful” and asking about her sick relative.
An online relationship develops.
The
woman’s newfound online boyfriend — who says he is working overseas but
lives in the United States — says he’s coming home; he sends her his
airline itinerary and promises they will live happily ever after.
Then a last-minute “emergency” hits, and he asks her to send money.
New
Hampshire authorities have received about 100 reports this year alone
from victims of romance scams collectively bilked out of millions of
dollars.
“They really think they met the love of their life,” said Assistant Attorney General Brandon Garod.
Even
after sending tens of thousands of dollars to someone they never will
meet, “the women refuse to believe initially that this is a scam,” said
Garod, who works in the Attorney General’s elder abuse and exploitation
unit.
“In recent months, we’ve seen a huge uptick in the number of reports we’re getting,” Garod said.
One woman reported sending more than $200,000. “It would be atypical to be less than $50,000,” Garod said.
“Stealing
not only the money in their pocketbooks, but their hearts as well,”
said Jamie Bulen, associate state director of communications for AARP
New Hampshire.
Bulen said the state’s population is aging; New Hampshire boasts the nation’s second highest median age.
Garod called such scams a “long con,” with some victims wiring money from their banks multiple times.
“We have seen scammers teaching elderly people to purchase and send bitcoin,” he said.
“I
think the takeaway is if you are online and you are corresponding with
someone who claims to be far away and is not able to meet with you, that
should be a red flag,” Garod said.
“It’s
much more acceptable to date online and there’s just a lot of fraud out
there,” Bulen said. “People get taken emotionally.”
With
few exceptions, Garod said, the targets are widowed, divorced or lonely
women. “They’re online and looking for companionship,” he said.
The scammer strikes up an online conversation and suggests they exchange email addresses, phone messages and texts.
On
Facebook, the scammer makes a friend request and looks for something
they both can relate to, such as being from the same town. In actuality,
the scammers have come from countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica and
India.
“Whether it starts on Facebook or starts on a dating site, it has the same trajectory in terms of the scam,” Garod said.
The scammers have daily conversations for days or weeks with their victims.
“The
scammer really tries to build a foundation of trust with the elderly
person,” Garod said. “It inappropriately quickly escalates from friendly
talk to romantic talk.”
Plans
are made for the scammer to fly to Manchester or Boston, but then a day
or two before his scheduled arrival, the scammer asks her to send money.
“There’s some sort of catastrophic accident that prevents them from coming, and (they) always need money,” Garod said.
Often, the excuse can be to pay medical bills or replace damaged equipment.
Banks or family members sometimes detect the scams.
“Anytime anybody is asking you for money and you haven’t met that person, assume it’s a scam,” Garod said.
“A simple deny” to a Facebook friend request would have prevented the whole thing, he said.
The truth is tough for victims to face.
“They refuse to believe that they’ve been scammed; (that) is the initial reaction from everyone we’ve seen,” Garod said.
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Scammers steal hearts and cash from NH victims searching for love
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