W5 uncovers global network of organized crime targeting Canadians in romance scams

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Scampup

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W5 uncovers global network of organized crime targeting Canadians in romance scams


Investigative correspondent Avery Haines reveals a global criminal organization behind romance scams. Watch the W5 documentary Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV. Below is her account of the tragic consequence resulting from one of these scams.

TORONTO -- It is an eerie feeling to go through the computer of a dead woman. Touching the keyboard, scrolling through the chat history, looking at the photos. It is a terrible invasion of privacy. Our computers are, after all, the holders of our secrets, storing everything we’ve ever searched up, the messages we’ve sent, the pictures we’ve taken.

The computer belongs to a woman named Colleen. It was given to me by her grieving sister, Karen Ringham, in the days leading up to the one-year anniversary of Colleen’s death by suicide in Delta, British Columbia. (W5 is only identifying Colleen by her first name at the request of her family for privacy.) ...

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Scampup

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This has local relevance. Annually thousands of South Africans get caught up in these.

Equally applies to men (there are female soldiers, female doctors ... all fake).

Ethnics does not matter, nor wealth.

Where opportunity exists, the victims are turned into money and drug mules.

Hardly ever reported in South Africa. When victims wish to report it, they're told it's a civil matter in many cases.

This easily could be a friend, family member or colleague.

The victims are not necessarily stupid. The brain washing and manipulation is intense.
 
RaptorSA

RaptorSA

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ForceFate said:
Question to anyone meeting a girl/guy for the first time: How do you know the person isn't there to swindle you out of your hard earned cash?
Click to expand...

You don't, until the person asks for money, but there's usually tons of clues beforehand depending on how smart the scammer is. Those of us who've been chatting online since the days of mIRC tend to have a "6th sense" about these things, something that most people today lack since the internet went ubiquitous.

These scammers aren't as sophisticated as the video wants you to believe, definitely not the "psychological masters" they're portrayed as. I'm sure some are pretty good at it, but I'd be interested to see the details of these chats. Clearly these victims are extremely ignorant and want to believe with a religious level of fervour.

It's interesting to note that this woman was actually approached by the "RCP" (or whatever) at some point who wanted to educate her on scammers etc. and she wanted none of it, so it's pretty hard to feel sorry for her.

P.S. When in doubt, Google reverse image search. It doesn't always work but it's a start.
 
crysis

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RaptorSA said:
These scammers aren't as sophisticated as the video wants you to believe, definitely not the "psychological masters" they're portrayed as.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. They probably quickly guage if you are an idiot first before proceeding. If you have a modicum of inteligence they move onto some easier prey. Similarly to the nigerian scammers.
 
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Lucas Buck

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ForceFate said:
Question to anyone meeting a girl/guy for the first time: How do you know the person isn't there to swindle you out of your hard earned cash?
Click to expand...
You don't, but when they tell you some complicated story as a reason to ask you for money they you should become suspicious. If you do give them money and they ask for more before paying you back then that should be a deal breaker.
 
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The Trutherizer

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It's really just stupid to send significant sums of money to somebody you've never met before. This is the 21st freaking century. We have video conferencing available to everybody. Also. To combat this the first thing I'd look into would be the capability to crawl dating sites for images known to relate to stolen identities along with a more official central hub to keep track of such images. Why the hell does there need to be a civilian effort to do this?

This kind of thing should not happen anymore. I understand that between the wrong side of the Bell curve and the technological 'proficiency' of elders there are, especially at this point in time, a large gap for such scammers to operate in, but dammit. There's so much that can be done to prevent this. Law enforcement needs to get with the times.
 
surface

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OCP said:
Intelligence and wisdom are 2 very different things....
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I am sure in many cases, victims would be intelligent and wisdom in other respects. Emotional appeal can pull heartstrings. Don't people give money to religious institutions making the leaders insanely rich. Hey man, take this money for your jet and spread the word around.
 
Supervan II

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surface said:
I am sure in many cases, victims would be intelligent and wisdom in other respects. Emotional appeal can pull heartstrings. Don't people give money to religious institutions making the leaders insanely rich. Hey man, take this money for your jet and spread the word around.
Click to expand...
AMEN! Preach it, Brother! :laugh:
 
ForceFate

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RaptorSA said:
You don't, until the person asks for money, but there's usually tons of clues beforehand depending on how smart the scammer is. Those of us who've been chatting online since the days of mIRC tend to have a "6th sense" about these things, something that most people today lack since the internet went ubiquitous.

These scammers aren't as sophisticated as the video wants you to believe, definitely not the "psychological masters" they're portrayed as. I'm sure some are pretty good at it, but I'd be interested to see the details of these chats. Clearly these victims are extremely ignorant and want to believe with a religious level of fervour.

It's interesting to note that this woman was actually approached by the "RCP" (or whatever) at some point who wanted to educate her on scammers etc. and she wanted none of it, so it's pretty hard to feel sorry for her.

P.S. When in doubt, Google reverse image search. It doesn't always work but it's a start.
Click to expand...
Yeah, not so sophisticated. I've tried to bait a few online without success. A lot of time, I grow impatient of their BS, so they probably start seeing clues in my responses. Tinder is full of them.
 
RaptorSA

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rambo919 said:
Oh I'm bulletproof.... I don't have anything TO steal in the first place.... [cries in corner]
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised.
When there's nothing left they tend to take the little bit of what's left of your soul.
 
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Milano

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One I received today:

Hi I intellection a lot to write down or not.
But still decideddecide. I wish to find a person of dreams! Maybe it's you?
My name is Elena, I am from Russia I am forty five years old. How old are you? If it is not a secret!
Which girlfriendare you interesting in? What do you do?
Possibly you ask a question me? I will be joyous to answer you. Don’t slight my email, please! Suddenly we are created for each other!
I look forward to your reply.

^ if this is indicative of the quality then humanity is in serious trouble

Naturally I wrote back immediately and we are set to meet in December :p
 
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