A SINGLETON has bravely opened up about how a potential love interest turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of her life – one that cost her a staggering £10,000.
Online scams have been around for some time – but now sick conmen are tricking unsuspecting people out of their savings by using fake images and even voices to lure in their victims.
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This technological advancement makes it easier to pull off a romance scam and harder to spot one – and those falling victim will often choose not to report the elaborate crime due to embarrassment and shame.
”Mike Murdy” is one such AI conmen – a dark-eyed US Army Colonel whose profile claims the man is looking for love.
One of many of a new generation of internet scams, Mike is 61 and from Nashville.
According to the false information on the popular dating app Tinder, Mike is about to retire and is planning to relocate to Cuba where he’d settle down for a new life with his partner.
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Mary, a carer who’s been single for more than 20 years, told The Mirror how she had matched with the charming fella online.
”He said he was an army colonel stationed in the UK.
“He sent me a video, dressed in his uniform. He looked quite handsome.”
The two singletons started messaging around October and Mike also sent her a snap of what he claimed was of him and his late wife, who, unfortunately, died of cancer five years ago, and said he had no children or family.
At some point, Mary also gave him her address – and just days later, a box landed on her doorstep, containing trinkets and keepsakes.
A card sent to her read: “You’re the one I want to be with, now and forever.”
In arguably the cruellest part of the deception, the sick scammers lured the woman’s help and claimed Mike had a life insurance policy worth a whopping £607,000 from his late partner and he needed help to cash in.
Using the messaging app Signal, the Colonel provided Mary with a bank account number and sort code.
The briefcase arrived with an accompanying letter which said it was from “111 E Chaffee Ave, Fort Knox, Kentucky, United States”.
The briefcase was at a post office, ready to be delivered, but some fees needed to be put in place before she could receive it.
“Please trust me on this. Let’s make this happen so we can enjoy our retirement together,” he told her.
In order to gain access, Mary had to obtain a six-digit access code – which was generated upon receipt of a payment of £10,000.
How to protect yourself from scams
BY keeping these tips in mind, you can avoid getting caught up in a scam:
- Firstly, remember that if something seems too good to be true, it normally is.
- Check brands are “verified” on Facebook and Twitter pages – this means the company will have a blue tick on its profile.
- Look for grammatical and spelling errors; fraudsters are notoriously bad at writing proper English. If you receive a message from a “friend” informing you of a freebie, consider whether it’s written in your friend’s normal style.
- If you’re invited to click on a URL, hover over the link to see the address it will take you to – does it look genuine?
- To be on the really safe side, don’t click on unsolicited links in messages, even if they appear to come from a trusted contact.
- Be careful when opening email attachments too. Fraudsters are increasingly attaching files, usually PDFs or spreadsheets, which contain dangerous malware.
- If you receive a suspicious message then report it to the company, block the sender and delete it.
- If you think you’ve fallen for a scam, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use its online fraud reporting tool.
‘Mike Murdy’ assured her that this one last payment would unlock the briefcase – and so, Mary sent the eye-watering sum at the end of October but a code to unlock the briefcase never arrived.
Mary broke into the briefcase- where she found only sheets of paper.
Mary said: “It’s really scary to think the fraudsters have just created these videos. I’ve never been conned like this in my life.
”I was saving up that money to redecorate my house. Now I don’t feel safe.”
Under new Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) rules, banks are required to reimburse victims of “authorised push payment” fraud, where people are duped into transferring money to criminals.
Martin Richardson, a senior partner at National Fraud Helpline, said: “This was an incredibly unusual fraud in which the scammer used every possible method to convince the victim that he was genuine.
”Not only did the fraudster create AI videos but he also sent physical items such as the briefcase, and trinkets, keepsakes and an ornament.
“Combining AI and … sending items in the post shows a level of sophistication from a very determined scammer.”
A Halifax spokesman said: “Helping to protect customers from fraud is our priority and we have a great deal of sympathy for the victim of this crime.
”We are reviewing the claim in line with the PSR’s rules on reimbursement and will confirm the outcome to our customer early next week.”
