Greg's Corner

Romance scammers steal life savings of elderly victim

By Greg Collier

The holiday season is the time of the year when romance scammers strike the hardest. After all, most people to be alone for the holidays. That loneliness can make anyone vulnerable to the promises of a romance scammer. Romance scammers often pose as well-off individuals, such as doctors or international businessmen. The stability of some of these positions make them more attractive to their victims. It also doesn’t help that when someone is lonely, the heart can often overrule the mind, and red flags are often ignored.

That happened to an elderly Pennsylvania woman who lost almost $40,000 to scammers. Her scammer claimed to be a doctor who was working in Iraq for the United Nations. It was because the scammer was said to be in Iraq that it made it easy for them to avoid meeting the victim. It also made it easy for the scammer to make excuses as to why they couldn’t talk on FaceTime or why the ‘doctor’ was unable to carry any money on him.

For months, the scammer cultivated an online relationship with their victim. At first, they would talk every day through online chats. Then the chats became phone calls where they would talk every day. The scammer was said to have talked like someone who was in love, even saying things to the victim like ‘How was your day?’. Things that many of us might take for granted when we’re in relationships.

Then it finally became time for the scammer to pull the trigger on the scam. At first, the money requests started small. The first one was for a $100 pre-paid debit card that the victim took a photo of and sent to the scammer. Then came larger amounts for things like cell phone service, food, and a plane ticket for the ‘doctor’ to meet the victim. However, instead of the meeting taking place, the victim received a phone call from someone claiming to be the doctor’s lawyer.

That person said that the doctor had been arrested because of the drugs in his bag, and he needed $20,000 bail. By this time, the victim had already gone through her savings, but the supposed lawyer pressured her into finding more money. She was told to sell her car, cash out life insurance policies, and beg from her family if need be. It was then the victim realized she had been scammed.

The photos the scammer used turned out to be of an actual doctor from Spain, whose picture was being used in all manner of romance scams.

The victim had lost everything to the scam, but was fortunate enough to have family her took her in. She believes she was taken advantage of because she had listed herself as a widow on her Facebook page.

The romance scam probably comes with the most victim blaming, as many people say they can’t believe someone would fall for such a scam. That’s when we like to remind people that anybody can fall victim to a scam, no matter their education level or socioeconomic status. Recently, a Texas man pleaded guilty to being part of a romance scam that took $1.2 million from just one victim. You don’t accrue that kind of money without being a little smart.

The best way to protect yourself from romance scammers is to do a reverse image search of any picture they send you of themselves. If the results come back to someone who isn’t who they say they are, then your best bet is to cut off any communication with them. It goes doubly so if they start asking you for money if you haven’t even met yet.

If you know someone, especially an elderly person, who might be caught in a romance scam, please show them this blog post or the Romance Scam page from the FTC’s website.