Crime does not stop, and now, according to reports from the organization Victim Support of the United States, crimes for romantic fraud have increased by 13 percent. Their modus operandi is the same, they choose and investigate who will be their next victim online, they contact her on networks and, once they gain her trust, they begin to ask her for money under multiple pretexts.
The victims, deluded with the idea that they have finally found the love of their life, venture into a game of emotions from which they only end up torn and cheated. As it happened, according to information from the New York Postto the British Sharon Bulmer, who lost a marriage of 29 years, the respect of her children, friends and, as if that were not enough, ended up in debt up to her neck.
Sharon was calmly browsing the internet when a request for a handsome man came to her on Facebook. Excited, she accepted it and started chatting with the attractive stranger of hers.
He told me that he was lonely and that he was on duty in Syria. He told me that he was 56 years old and that his wife had passed away.
For their purposes, criminals use fake profiles with images of attractive men who inspire confidence, whom victims can easily idealize. For this particular case, the crafty scammer used the image of Latvian defense minister Artis Pabriks. That was how the innocent talk quickly escalated to more romantic grounds, since her type, an expert in manipulation, managed to make her fall in love almost immediately.
He was very happy with all the attention he gave me, he said everything I wanted to hear. She made me feel loved and cared for. She asked me to help him and I did, but over time she put me in a lot of debt, because I fell in love with this person.
This is how a few months passed until their marriage ended when her husband of almost 30 years discovered her texting with her boyfriend. on-linebut Sharon was so excited that she did not mind losing her family as long as she continued this relationship.
Not suspecting that her perfect man didn’t even exist, she began to send him large amounts of money under multiple pretexts, obviously, the first thing he told her was that he needed money to travel to see her, then the typical health problems, conflicts in the army, etc., until the woman realized that she had shelled out almost $108,000.
Finally, Sharon began to have doubts when she found out that her crush had made purchases that had nothing to do with the hospitalization she had recently fabricated for him. Determined, she confronted him, but he simply disappeared. The distraught woman turned to the authorities for help locating him, and that’s when the truth unfolded before her eyes.
I lost friends, my two children and my partner of 29 years. I just wanted to help him a lot. I know I’ve been a fool, but these are the things we do for love. I wanted to take my kids on vacation, I was going to take them to New York last year, but since he was constantly looking for money, I couldn’t. I want to help anyone not get carried away by these idiots and just try to get on with my life.
