An intelligent friend of mine lives alone in Lausanne, she has friends nearby, and is nearly 70 years old. Yesterday she told me her sad story, which I still find hard to believe. How could she be tricked out of so much money?

The following is true! I am telling you the story as it seemed.

On the Internet dating website "Swiss Friends" she met an American man Tony who lived in Zurich. She received a photo and asked to meet him. He said he had to go urgently to China to buy some cars, for export to Africa, this was his business. In China he told her he was OK, but was having problems with the export documentation and could she lend him some money. She sent him some, by Western Union.... A week later he writes he is in hospital in the Ivory Coast and needs some money, she sent him some by Western Union..... Again he wrote that he needed some money to bribe an official to land the cars, she sent him some. He later asked for more and she told him she had no more, but her friend might lend her some if he could see a copy of his passport. She received an e-mail with a scanned copy of a US passport, the ID picture looked exactly like original photo. She sent him some more money... She now became suspicious and contacted the US Embassy in Bern, asking for information about Tony. The US security didn't want to give out details, but hinted that they had seen this passport image before in other criminal activities.

Since then she has ignored him, he telephones a few times each week using a mobile number 0041-77xxxyyzz

Now she thinks she has learnt her lesson, and has lost about CHF 10'300 She has contacted Swiss Friends and reported her experiences.

She has now seen a man on Swiss Friends living in Geneva, looking exactly the same as Tony. She wrote him something in French, and he replied in English in exactly Tony's style....

So beware. She has been to the police, but no luck so far. Tony is probably living in the Ivory Coast, he has a stolen US passport, and a Migros Handy number. He seems to be operating here using the English language.
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In due seriousness, this type of scam are common ocurrance in Mexico( Not the dating but the Money due to problems). my grandparents almost fell for a similar scam regarding a "nephew" being blackmailed at the border by mexican officials.



The advise is: Never send money Via Western Union. and certainly not to someone you just met on the internet.

My initial reaction was the...selber schuld that many swiss people like to use. However, this is a 70 year old woman who probably feels more lonely than anything...

Yeah its tough...it may make sense to contact the police too. Even though the culprit is not on their soil...he is praying on the residents that they have to protect

An American living in Switzerland, exporting cars from China to Africa asks you to send him money (to China and to Africa) and all you know about him is based on a picture he sent through a dating website?

It's pretty obvious that is a massive fraud. Why would anyone send money to someone they've never met?

and what is worse, he may even be preying on them

You'd be surprised. People who only klearnt about the Internet late in life are often unable to spot even an obvious scam. I tried to teach my mother to use the Internet and she would click on adverts far too often without realising they were ads but thinking they were somehow part of the article she was reading.

I feel sorry for your friend but as previously said, these scams are very common and play on people's vulnerabilities...

Not a lot that can be done these guys have nothing to lose and if a tiny porportion of their targets respond then it's a win win situation for them.

Thanks for brining it to our attention.

In 90% of internet fraud i read about online, as much as i am angry at the person who did it, i often scream 'Fool it was your own fault!' at the victim. (not actually at the victim, but at my screen)


In this particular case, i did not. Its such a shame that somone of this age was taken advantage of. I hope somehow the police get the bar-steward.


If i was a billionaire, i would hire a team of ex special-forces/wet-work guys and fly round the world battering criminals who do things like this.

(Also on my list are paedos, rapists, premiership footballers and xbox users)

cheers
SC

He is NOT an American! He has a stolen US passport. He is probably a native Ivory Coast African. And he has a Migros mobile number.

She sent money because she thought he was a friend. She now feels really stupid!

I posted this only as a warning, for all your elderly relatives that go on dating sites. I wasn't asking for advice, thank you.

Love. Loneliness.

You'd be surprised how many people fall prey to the most obvious scams. They prey on your insecurities/whats most important to you.

NOOOOOOO, Not boobies!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sorry but I fail to find sympathy for the victim here.

As the OP said, she has friends and is intelligent.
She should have asked someone. Atleast one person.

Besides having some common sense of trusting someone you met on the internet with that amount of money.

Call me obtuse, but stupidity is no excuse.

anybody can get conned.

Thank you so much for warning Tony...

Conned, yes. If it is a con worth getting conned.

With a little bit of common sense and a little talk with any friend, I guess she would have figured it out very very easily.

I know its sad and all, but still, people question their kids when they ask for a biggish amount of money. This was someone on the internet.

PS: She was on the internet and I am sure had spam mails of this kind already.

As I am older than the lady in question, I'm defending my contemporaries. OK, some of us are naïve sometimes - I, too, thought at first that when I couldn't see the text on my screen it had gone for ever. I, too, once thought that most people are basically honest and I didn't expect to be mislead and cheated on the Internet. I learned quickly and, luckily for me, pretty painlessly - I had Mr L to give me tips which helped a lot.

Actually I'm less surprised at the naivety of us Oldies, than I am at how gullible many youngsters, who grew up with PCs and Internet, are!

We all make mistakes in judgement sometimes. If we admit it, it means that more folk hear of all the nasty tricks that can be played on unsuspecting members of the public.

At this point she should have realized something was not right.

Yes you are obtuse.

I have told her off and she won't do it again. She is not lonely, she was looking for a lover, having just lost a good one.

I wrote I did not need any advice thank you very much. I was unselfishly thinking of your own randy mother or grandmother!

It astounds me beyond belief people fall for this crap.

As I have gone through life, and I guess been blessed with a decent level of intelligence, when ecountering some people in life I have been choked at their stupidity, and this can be for very basic stuff.

But when someone falls for these scams it goes beyond stupidity to complete and utter idiocy!