WEBVTT

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(Dynamic Music) 

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(motor vehicle sounds and text on screen: Romance Scam)

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(motor vehicle sounds and text on screen: Los Angeles, California)

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[KEVIN] My name is Kevin. I'm a special agent

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with Homeland Security investigations

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here in the Los Angeles area. I'm

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assigned to the cyber crimes and

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incident response team. We received a

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call from our attaché's office in

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Toronto, Canada. The attaché's office had

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explained to us that they had received

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information from a local bank in

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Toronto. The bank had reported that a

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American citizen in the Los Angeles area

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was sending money to a money mule in the

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Toronto area. Based on the information

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that our attaché had provided to us, we

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traveled to the victim's house here in

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the Los Angeles area. The victim had 

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recorded the conversations with

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the suspect on- on a couple of

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occasions. This proves very helpful

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when it comes to prosecution point. We

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can always play that- that recording back

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to the jury to- for them to hear how

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this particular scammer impacted this

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particular victim. [BEATRICE ON RECORDED CHAT] I just hope you

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understand that that's the only way I

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can send the money. [SUSPECT] Why do you want to

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make it so difficult for me. It's going

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to be fine. It's going to be nice. When I

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told you what I want, you are helping me

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and I said okay this is how I want

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it. Then why do you want to make this an

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issue? [BEATRICE] The pot at the end of the rainbow

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was going to be so wonderful the way he

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presented this whole story to me what

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our lives would be like together and how

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much we had in common and it was, you

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know, both of us having lost a spouse and

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now we're going to start the rest of our

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lives together. I- I just couldn't see straight.

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[TV SHOW BOY] Look there go the Millers again.

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[BEATRICE] I come from a generation who trusted

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most people they met. We didn't assume

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everyone was bad or guilty until they

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proved themselves innocent,

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but in today's dating world, you

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must assume everyone is a scammer until

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they prove that they're not. It was a

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perfect storm. My husband had died 2

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years earlier. I was retired

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and then COVID hit and so the

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next 2 years I'm stuck at home. I was

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missing having a companion. I was missing

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having somebody talk to and- and have a

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connection with. I went on a senior's

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dating site. You know there were lots of

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men's faces that came up that were, you

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know, okay and this one guy he just

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looked like a nice, decent man, he

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actually reminded me a little of my late

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husband in his eyes and his smile, so I

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was kind of drawn to that. There are many

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worldwide networks of scammers who have

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different scripts they work from, but

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there are common red flags to always look for.

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He's new to online dating. He doesn't

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have a lot of pictures to send you.

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That's because he's using someone else's

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pictures. He wants to know all about your

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friends and family — not because he cares —

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it's so he knows if you're going to talk

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to other people about him who could warn

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you to stay away. He works outside the

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country — it could be on an oil rig in the

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Indian Ocean or in the military or he's

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a contractor in the Middle East. It's

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always something exotic because then his

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story can get complicated and confuse

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you. I wish I knew this before I ever

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started going online to meet someone. I

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assumed he was honest and genuine. He

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spent months texting me three to four

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times a day and calling me to establish

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our relationship. You're already sucked

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in to this emotional attachment and

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that's all they need to reel you in and

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prime you and groom you to the point

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where they ask for money. That's all this

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is about and they know they're not going

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to get it until they feel they've earned

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your trust. So they do whatever they need

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to, tell you whatever you need to hear, so

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when he started saying things that

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didn't sound right or make sense — by the

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time I saw the red flags, I ignored them

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because I didn't want want to be wrong. I

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wanted to believe the dream. I was

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already brainwashed to believe

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everything he told me just — like being in

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a cult. Once you're there, number one you

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don't want to be wrong. You don't want to

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admit it cuz you don't want to be wrong.

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You don't want to feel you've been

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scammed. You don't want to feel that

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you've given money that you're never

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going to get back to a stranger so

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you're you- you go with it and you make

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it happen in your head. Whereas all he's

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doing is setting you up to take your

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money that you're never going to see

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again. There's a private Facebook group

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for victims of romance scammers 

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and I joined that

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and -oh- did that help because there

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were so many women, mostly women, but

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there were some men, who have all been in

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the same situation. Who lost way more

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money than I did and going through the

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exact same feelings of how could they be

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so gullible, how could they be so stupid.

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They're smart, intelligent women who

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count every penny that they're spending.

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And they got sucked in. For the story

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might be different, but the end goal was

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the same. They suck you out of your money

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and- and just manipulate your emotions.

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[KEVIN] You know I'm often times

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asked

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by the victim, you know, what could I have done.

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In this particular case, I was- we

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were asked, you know, what- what could I

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have done better. In this particular

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instance, the victim did everything right.

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Preserved evidence, preserved the

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communications, which leads me to

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recommending if you're- to this.

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(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

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(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

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(Text on screen: If you are a victim of romance scam please call: 1-877-4-HSI-TIP)
victim of some type of fraud

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(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.

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Report it to law enforcement and

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and make sure that that information is

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shared because it's about preventing

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further victimization of

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yourself.

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(Music and DHS Seal on screen)

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(Text on screen: Fighting Global Threats, Protecting American Lives)