As of: March 15, 2024, 6:17 p.m
By: Fabian Diekmann
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In a “love scam,” a woman from Seligenstadt in the Offenbach district of Hesse transferred 160,000 euros to a stranger on the Internet.
Seligenstadt – The online relationship between a woman from Seligenstadt (Offenbach district) and a stranger from an online dating platform lasted almost three months.
Then it was over - and the woman was 160,000 euros poorer.
According to the police, the unknown person contacted the Seligenstadt woman shortly before Christmas via an online dating platform.
He made many declarations of love for her and deliberately gained the woman's trust.
A con artist stole 160,000 euros from a Seligenstadt woman in a “love scam”.
(Symbolic image) © Marijan Murat/dpa/dpa-tmn
Con artist received 160,000 euros from a woman from the Offenbach district to pay bills
He pretended to be a successful and rich businessman.
At some point he told the victim that his bank account had been blocked.
However, since he had business bills to pay, he repeatedly asked the woman for money.
She transferred this to him regularly over several weeks.
Ultimately, 160,000 euros were raised.
At some point the woman became aware of the fraud and reported it to the police.
This puts her ahead of many others.
The police assume that there is a high number of unreported cases of “love scamming” scams.
Many victims would not come forward out of shame.
Police recommend never transferring money to people you haven't met yet.
You should also be suspicious if there is too much talk about a shared future.
Contact should be broken off quickly and the police should be contacted.
(Fabian Diekmann)
The Offenbach police are currently warning of a scam in which victims are supposed to pay bail for relatives in custody.