HawaiiNewsNow Video » Police warn of online dating scam
Police are warning about a growing number of local women losing thousands of dollars to criminals posing as love interests on the dating website match.com.
Since December at least four people on Oahu have reported being scammed, and more victims are probably out there, police Lt. John McCarthy said Thursday. The smallest reported loss was about $30,000, while the largest was more than $300,000.
McCarthy said he hoped the police warning will curb the sudden rise in this type of scam in Honolulu.
"It’s leading to financial ruin in some people’s cases," McCarthy said. "It’s devastating to the victim."
Police are also asking for other victims to come forward because they could provide potential leads to the criminals.
One woman, who asked not to be identified because she was embarrassed by the ordeal, lost $34,000 since January. She appeared Wednesday at a police news conference.
"I don’t want other women out there to go through the same thing that happened to me," she said. "If you’re a victim out there, please come forward because we need to catch these people."
McCarthy said the scam begins when the criminal contacts a woman on match.com and starts a relationship. He will email and call but eventually start asking for money, sometimes in just a few days.
"They constantly work at you," McCarthy said. "They exploit your weakness."
McCarthy said the criminals often list their location in their profile as the United Kingdom, but they probably live in West Africa because authorities have traced phone numbers there, and a man overheard in a phone conversation with a victim had an accent from the area.
They give victims various reasons to send money, such as offering a chance to make cash, or saying they need money because they are away from home or need funds for a project.
The woman who was victimized warned others not to put too much personal information in their profile because it can be used to manipulate.
"They will say everything you want to hear," said the woman, who was looking for a relationship after being single a long time. "So for me, being naive — it’s my first time on the site — I just listened to whatever he told me."
The man claimed to be from Vermont, working as a jeweler in Africa, and needed money to pay his workers. He promised to marry her and sent an imitation 18-karat gold ring. The woman, who is in her 50s, wired more than $15,000 and also gave access to her credit card account. She said one red flag she should have noticed was the man typed with simple grammatical errors, a sign he was not American.
