(Dynamic Music)
(motor vehicle sounds and text on screen: Romance Scam)
(motor vehicle sounds and text on screen: Los Angeles, California)
[KEVIN] My name is Kevin. I'm a special agent
with Homeland Security investigations
here in the Los Angeles area. I'm
assigned to the cyber crimes and
incident response team. We received a
call from our attaché's office in
Toronto, Canada. The attaché's office had
explained to us that they had received
information from a local bank in
Toronto. The bank had reported that a
American citizen in the Los Angeles area
was sending money to a money mule in the
Toronto area. Based on the information
that our attaché had provided to us, we
traveled to the victim's house here in
the Los Angeles area. The victim had
recorded the conversations with
the suspect on- on a couple of
occasions. This proves very helpful
when it comes to prosecution point. We
can always play that- that recording back
to the jury to- for them to hear how
this particular scammer impacted this
particular victim. [BEATRICE ON RECORDED CHAT] I just hope you
understand that that's the only way I
can send the money. [SUSPECT] Why do you want to
make it so difficult for me. It's going
to be fine. It's going to be nice. When I
told you what I want, you are helping me
and I said okay this is how I want
it. Then why do you want to make this an
issue? [BEATRICE] The pot at the end of the rainbow
was going to be so wonderful the way he
presented this whole story to me what
our lives would be like together and how
much we had in common and it was, you
know, both of us having lost a spouse and
now we're going to start the rest of our
lives together. I- I just couldn't see straight.
[TV SHOW BOY] Look there go the Millers again.
[BEATRICE] I come from a generation who trusted
most people they met. We didn't assume
everyone was bad or guilty until they
proved themselves innocent,
but in today's dating world, you
must assume everyone is a scammer until
they prove that they're not. It was a
perfect storm. My husband had died 2
years earlier. I was retired
and then COVID hit and so the
next 2 years I'm stuck at home. I was
missing having a companion. I was missing
having somebody talk to and- and have a
connection with. I went on a senior's
dating site. You know there were lots of
men's faces that came up that were, you
know, okay and this one guy he just
looked like a nice, decent man, he
actually reminded me a little of my late
husband in his eyes and his smile, so I
was kind of drawn to that. There are many
worldwide networks of scammers who have
different scripts they work from, but
there are common red flags to always look for.
He's new to online dating. He doesn't
have a lot of pictures to send you.
That's because he's using someone else's
pictures. He wants to know all about your
friends and family — not because he cares —
it's so he knows if you're going to talk
to other people about him who could warn
you to stay away. He works outside the
country — it could be on an oil rig in the
Indian Ocean or in the military or he's
a contractor in the Middle East. It's
always something exotic because then his
story can get complicated and confuse
you. I wish I knew this before I ever
started going online to meet someone. I
assumed he was honest and genuine. He
spent months texting me three to four
times a day and calling me to establish
our relationship. You're already sucked
in to this emotional attachment and
that's all they need to reel you in and
prime you and groom you to the point
where they ask for money. That's all this
is about and they know they're not going
to get it until they feel they've earned
your trust. So they do whatever they need
to, tell you whatever you need to hear, so
when he started saying things that
didn't sound right or make sense — by the
time I saw the red flags, I ignored them
because I didn't want want to be wrong. I
wanted to believe the dream. I was
already brainwashed to believe
everything he told me just — like being in
a cult. Once you're there, number one you
don't want to be wrong. You don't want to
admit it cuz you don't want to be wrong.
You don't want to feel you've been
scammed. You don't want to feel that
you've given money that you're never
going to get back to a stranger so
you're you- you go with it and you make
it happen in your head. Whereas all he's
doing is setting you up to take your
money that you're never going to see
again. There's a private Facebook group
for victims of romance scammers
and I joined that
and -oh- did that help because there
were so many women, mostly women, but
there were some men, who have all been in
the same situation. Who lost way more
money than I did and going through the
exact same feelings of how could they be
so gullible, how could they be so stupid.
They're smart, intelligent women who
count every penny that they're spending.
And they got sucked in. For the story
might be different, but the end goal was
the same. They suck you out of your money
and- and just manipulate your emotions.
[KEVIN] You know I'm often times
asked
by the victim, you know, what could I have done.
In this particular case, I was- we
were asked, you know, what- what could I
have done better. In this particular
instance, the victim did everything right.
Preserved evidence, preserved the
communications, which leads me to
recommending if you're- to this.
(Text on screen: If you are a victim of romance scam please call: 1-877-4-HSI-TIP) If you believe that you're a victim of a
(Text on screen: If you are a victim of romance scam please call: 1-877-4-HSI-TIP) romance scam or if you believe you're a
(Text on screen: If you are a victim of romance scam please call: 1-877-4-HSI-TIP) victim of some type of fraud
(Text on screen: If you are a victim of romance scam please call: 1-877-4-HSI-TIP) it's important that you report this.
Report it to law enforcement and
and make sure that that information is
shared because it's about preventing
further victimization of
yourself.
(Music and DHS Seal on screen)
(Text on screen: Fighting Global Threats, Protecting American Lives)