A woman in the UK paid over £80,000 to a man she met online — all because he promised to visit her and one day bring her back to the United States to be married.
At first she only paid him £3,000 for his flight. Then it was another £3,000 for another flight. After that it was £10,000 because he couldn’t access the first £6,000. And it didn’t stop there; she gave this man whom she had not met £76,000 to hire a private jet to come and see her.
But he didn’t ever come to see her. Though, I’m guessing they had a chance to meet in court where he was prosecuted for fraud.
The whole story was reported in People UK – and to read it is pretty heartbreaking. Fully functioning, smart people are being duped by romance scammers every day. These scammers find someone who is lonely, maybe even desperate for love, and then the scammer plays on those feelings.
Online dating scams are not special to one particular single site. Although the story I mentioned above was a result of a connection on FriendsReunited.com, online dating scams can take place on any Web site — including MySpace and Craigslist.
Our advice to you: Don’t wire money. If you really want to arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone you’ve fallen for online, purchase him or her an airline ticket yourself. Do this with a credit card straight from the airline or a travel agency.
This way if it doesn’t work out you’ve only lost a few hundred dollars. The heartbreak you will recover from soon, but bankruptcy you won’t, we promise.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s a good thing I don’t have any money…that way no one can steal it. haha
I guess there is an upside to being broke:)