Anyone with a bit of common sense has to question why there is so much spam on the Internet. It only turns a profit if someone actually clicks and buys pills from those viagra e-mails, after all. So there must be a set of people out there stupid enough to do so regularly.
The same is true of those scams that request you transfer a large sum of money into your bank account to help someone out. In return you have the promise of keeping a percentage of it. Who believes such a thing is true? Apparently some people do and the e-mails continue to be sent out to hook the next victim.
One man from Naperville was indeed hooked by a scam artist who had a lot of patience and managed to walk away with his/her pockets bulging. The thief contacted the victim over the Internet and became his online girlfriend in a relationship that lasted two-and-a-half years. He was convinced she was real as he had received an ID card from her which police have now revealed is a sample Florida driving license.
With the man clearly happy in his digital relationship the scam was set in motion. He was told that she had been kidnapped while in London and that money was required for her to be released. He set about sending the funds to bank accounts in Nigeria, Malaysia, England, and the U.S. When he was done the scam had netted those involved $200,000, and yet no girlfriend was released.
The victim had no other choice but to get the authorities involved to try and locate his kidnapped partner. When they discovered the scam and the fact she didn’t exist he was, as they put it, “in disbelief”.
The case is still under investigation as police try and figure out who was playing the role of the fake girlfriend. We expect they will find him/her on a beach somewhere.
0 comments:
Post a Comment