Greg's Corner

The costly safe in a romance scam

By Greg Collier

A 75-year-old widow from Las Vegas has shared her harrowing experience of losing more than a million dollars to a romance scammer.

The seasoned performer who spent many years singing background vocals for renowned artists and even toured with a legendary band faced a life-altering turn of events after the loss of her husband in 2020. She wasn’t looking for a relationship but posted on Facebook about her husband’s passing and her new status as a widow.

Soon after, a man who bore a striking resemblance to her late husband started messaging her on Facebook. He wrote to her every day for about four months, despite her initial reservations about the timing. Eventually, he sent a photograph of himself, and an online relationship began around the summer of 2021.

The scammer’s requests started innocuously, asking for gift cards to load up his phone with pre-paid calls so they could talk. But soon, the demands escalated. He claimed to be sending her a safe and requested $140,000 to transport it from Australia to her house in Nevada. The requests for money continued to grow over the next two years, with messages professing love and a sense of destiny together.

Ultimately, she lost $758,000, which included her retirement fund, inheritance from her husband, and her house, which was valued at over $600,000. The financial strain led to her power being turned off twice, and she lost weight due to lack of money for food.

The man in the photos was actually a spiritual teacher based in Germany, who had no connection to the scam.

Falling victim to a scam, especially one as emotionally manipulative as a romance scam, can happen to anyone. However, there are several measures that can help a potential victim avoid the scam.

Be cautious about sharing personal information online, as scammers can use it to manipulate and exploit you. Romance scammers often monitor changes in relationship status, so consider sharing major life updates, like becoming a widow, only with close friends rather than making them public.

Before engaging deeply in any online relationship, especially if financial transactions are involved, use reverse image search tools to verify the person’s identity. Scammers often use stolen photos.

Discuss the online relationship with trusted friends or family members. They can offer an outside perspective and may notice red flags that the victim might overlook.

Also, genuine relationships don’t typically involve early or frequent requests for money. Any request for large sums of money, gift cards, or bank account information should be met with extreme caution.

And as always, if something feels wrong or too good to be true, trust your instincts. It’s better to be cautious and investigate further than to fall victim to a scam.