a british liar looted nearly 700 women And defrauded nine of them out of £20,000 (about $27,000) and has been sent to jail.
London resident Osagie Aigbonohan, 41, has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges, including defrauding a victim of £9,500 over the course of a false 10-month online relationship.
According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), Iger Bonohan made up an unfortunate story of how he ran out of money after paying for the funeral of a group of people killed in a tragic industrial accident.
He needs the money to buy the drilling equipment he employs for overseas commercial enterprises…
…but it’s all a bunch of lies.
fictional story
As NCA manager Dominic Mugan explained:
Agbonohan paid no attention to these women. He went to great lengths to earn their trust, fabricating stories to exploit them from thousands.
This is the typical pattern of romance fraudsters: They work hard to build a rapport before making such a request. Romance fraud is a crime that affects victims emotionally and financially, and in some cases, their families.
We want to encourage everyone who thinks they’ve been the victim of a romance fraud to not feel embarrassed or ashamed, but to report it.
Remember, romance scammers use empathy and emotion as their tools of the trade—they don’t usually rely on malware, spyware, or booby-trapped email attachments to gain access to their victims’ bank accounts.
In other words, traditional technological tools for preventing cybercrime, such as antivirus blockers, web filters and email scanners, don’t help much.
Romance scammers, just like scammers convince you to invest in fake cryptocurrency schemes, deceive victims face-to-face by creating a trust-based guise, upon which criminals convince victims to send their own money.
Tech support scammers also use this method, hoping to convince you by calling you — or convincing you to call them — and telling you a bunch of unrefined lies about “security issues” on your computer Pay for their “support”. “Fix” a computer problem that doesn’t exist. Unlike romance scammers, tech support scammers often use fear rather than love to scare you with the consequences of not fixing the “problem” they claim to have. Their main goal is to convince you that there is a purpose Paying for “services” that you don’t need and are really useless for improving your online security. As with romance scams, this leaves victims with their own payments, making it less likely to report or question the fraud to the authorities .
risk of alienation
As the NCA warns, romance scammers leave their victims out of pocket, emotionally broken: Knowing you’ve deeply trusted someone who never said anything about you is a pain in the ass for anyone medicine.
But there is another aspect of the consequences of this crime that is often overlooked, and that is that victims of romance scams sometimes end up estranged from friends and family, even after the scam is revealed and the financial damage stops.
That’s because scammers who spot signs of family members trying to intervene will often turn their victims on to their own friends and family to prolong the scam by unscrupulous efforts.
what to do?
- If you get caught up in it, don’t blame yourself. These people are confident liars by profession, so they have a lot of practice. Unlike many online scammers, they’re willing to play a long game, investing weeks, months, or even years into creating fake friendships.
- Consider reporting your scam to the police. You will almost certainly not get any money back, but with evidence from you and the other victims, it is at least possible to identify and stop the relevant criminals and warn potential future victims to stay away from these scammers.
- If you are frustrated after being scammed like this, look for a support group. But be aware that after you’ve been scammed, people will “reach out” to help you online so you don’t get scammed again. Ignore any offers of help to “get your money back” after a scam – it could be the same scammer trying again. Seek advice from your local police or healthcare professional.
- Listen openly to your friends and family if they try to warn you. These criminals don’t deliberately use romantic excuses like “love conquers all” to deliberately turn you against your family as part of their scam. Don’t let scammers sow discord between you and your family and between you and your money.
- When you realize this is a scam, leave immediately. Don’t warn you to suspect their liars or ask them if they really love you because they will only tell you what you want to hear. Cut unilaterally, suddenly, completely, and join a real support group if you need help.
