all about you/real life

Davis isnt the only one whos been fleeced. The FBIs Inter-net Crime Complaint Center, IC3, tells Glamour that $4,000 an hour is lost to love scams, and experts agree the real number is much higher. This is one of the most underreported crimes youll ever see. says Sluppick. People are so ashamed and hurt they dont tell anyone, especially the FBI. Last year Money Gram alone (which, like Western Union, is used to wire funds) was able to prevent 4,879 romance-scam transactions totaling nearly $14 million from going through, thanks to a new detec- tion system the company had setup. Once we see the red flags- a transaction is within a certain dollar range, going to certain countries, or sent by a woman to a man with a different name, for example- well get on the phone and tell her we have some concerns, says Kim Garner, senior vice president of global security and investigations. Its a very emotional call. And women arent the only victims. English divorce Philip Hunt fell hard for ahead-turner named Rose online, even taking out loans to help her move from Nigeria to be with him. When it turned out Rose was a sham, he was so devastated and overwhelmed by debt that he committed suicide. Fortunately, this kind of tragedy is rare.

Theres a whole group of highly successful women who connect very emotionally to the written word, and these guys feast off that.
-Reef Karim, a therapist with patients who have been duped

It just blows my mind, what these scammers are doing.

216 GLAMOUR.COM OCTOBER 2012

CHRIS BOTT

The latest twist on the dating hoax is the soldier scam. Its easy to understand the appeal: Lisa Stamper, a 23-year-old nanny in London, figured the American serviceman who approached her on iloveyouraccent.com was doing good for his country. But within a week, he asked for $7,500 to help him get home from Afghanistan to see his dying mother. After Stamper contacted I Love Your Accents owner, Rochelle Peachey, they posted the incident on an anti-scam site to alert others- and to their surprise, I got five emails from other women who were also attempted victims, says Peachey. Such cons are now so rampant that the U.S. Army has begun to warn women targets on its website. These scammers prey on peoples patriotism, then they take them to the cleaners, says Christopher Grey, spokesperson for the Armys Criminal Investigation Command, which has received thousands of complaints in the past two years. (Hes had to soothe the fury of more than one military wife who found her husbands face on a dating site and thought he was cheating.) And Army Maj. Gor- don Hannett has had his picture-originally stolen off a photo- sharing site-used so many times by scammers that more than 100 women have hunted him down on his Facebook page to complain. Theres nothing particularly good-looking about me. Says Hannett, a lawyer now stationed in Fort Lewis, Wash- ington. Its just that my mother was very concerned about me going to Iraq, so even though I didnt have a good time, I made sure that in every picture I smiled. And photo swiping is only one hustler tactic. Theres also voice-changing software that allows scammers to hide their

accents on the phone, and even technology to help fake a web- cam video using pre-shot footage- so it looks like the guy youre chatting with is actually responding to you in real time at his computer. Some of what theyre doing blows my mind, says Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine. The most dis- turbing innovation: Scammers will flirtatiously ask a woman to send a sexually explicit video or photo as things heat up, and later threaten to post it online if she doesnt wire money. These are our most challenging cases because the victims are ada- mant about sending the funds to prevent being exposed. says MoneyGrams Garner. Its horrible. And many scammers get away with it. The chances of catch- ing someone whos working out of a cybercafe in, say, Ghana, with no records, no nothing- it s nearly impossible; the Armys Grey laments. (The hoax seems to have evolved out of the clas- sic Nigerian get-rich-quick scams.) Sometimes its not even just one con artist wooing a woman; instead, shes passed up the chain to a series of sharks until she gets to the boss, explains the founder ofscamsurvivors.com, who goes only by Wayne to protect himself from the crooks he chases down undercover. Christine Davis, the single mom who got taken for $3,600, says she alerted Facebook about Ronald Lewis bogus page, but at press time it was still up-one of the 14.3 million false and undesirable accounts the company reports may exist on its site. Davis also contacted the FBIs IC3 unit, but Nickolas Savage, assistant section chief of the agencys cyber criminal section, admits, The FBI is not going to be able to prosecute [even] a $9,000 loss. Still, he Continue on next page u

all about you/real life

Davis isn't the only one who's been fleeced. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, IC3, tells Glamour that $4,000 an hour is lost to love scams, and experts agree the real number is much higher. "This is one of the most underreported crimes you'll ever see;' says Sluppick. "People are so ashamed and hurt they don't tell anyone, especially the FBI." Last year MoneyGram alone (which, like Western Union, is used to wire funds) was able to prevent 4,879 romance-scam.transactions totaling nearly $14 million from going through, thanks to a new detection system the company had set up. "Once we see the red flagsa transaction is within a certain dollar range, going to certain countries, or sent by a woman to a man with a different name, for example-we'll get on the phone and tell her we have some concerns," says Kim Garner, senior vice president of global security and investigations. "It's a very emotional call:' And women aren't the only victims. English divorce Philip Hunt fell hard for ahead-turner named Rose online, even taking out loans to help her move from Nigeria to be with him. When it turned out "Rose" was a sham, he was so devastated and overwhelmed by debt that he committed suicide. Fortunately, this kind oftragedyis rare.

"There's a whole group of highly successful women who connect very emotionally to the written word, and these guys feast off that."
-Reef Karim, a therapist with patients who have been duped

"It just blows my mind, what these scammers are doing."

The latest twist on the dating hoax is the soldier scam. It's easy to understand the appeal: Lisa Stamper, a 23-year-old nanny in London, figured the American serviceman who approached her on iloveyouraccent.com "was doing good for his country." But within a week, he asked for $7,500 to help him get home from Afghanistan to see his dying mother. After Stamper contacted I Love Your Accent's owner, Rochelle Peachey, they posted the incident on an anti-scam site to alert others- and to their surprise, "I got five emails from other women who were also attempted victims," says Peachey. Such cons are now so rampant that the U.S. Army has begun to warn women targets on its website. "These scammers prey on people's patriotism, then they take them to the cleaners," says Christopher Grey, spokesperson for the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, which has received thousands of complaints in the past two years. (He's had to soothe the fury of more than one military wife who found her husband's face on a dating site and thought he was cheating.) And Army Maj. Gordon Hannett has had his picture-originally stolen off a photosharing site-used so many times by scammers that more than 100 women have hunted him down on his Facebook page to complain. "There's nothing particularly good-looking about me;' says Han nett, a lawyer now stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington. "It's just that my mother was very concerned about me going to Iraq, so even though I didn't have a good time, I made sure that in every picture I smiled:' And photo swiping is only one hustler tactic. There's also voice-changing software that allows scammers to hide their accents on the phone, and even technology to help fake a webcam video using pre-shot footage- so it looks like the guy you're chatting with is actually responding to you in real time at his computer. "Some of what they're doing blows my mind," says Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine. The most disturbing innovation: Scammers will flirtatiously ask a woman to send a sexually explicit video or photo as things heat up, and later threaten to post it online ifshe doesn't wire money. "These are our most challenging cases because the victims are adamant about sending the funds to prevent being exposed;' says MoneyGram's Garner. "It's horrible:' And many scammers get away with it. "The chances of catching someone who's working out of a cybercafe in, say, Ghana, with no records, no nothing-it's nearly impossible;' the Army's Grey laments. (The hoax seems to have evolved out of the classic Nigerian get-rich-quick scams.) Sometimes it's not even just one con artist wooing a woman; instead, she's passed up the chain to a series of sharks until she gets to the boss, explains the founder of scamsurvivors.com, who goes only by Wayne to protect himself from the crooks he chases down undercover. Christine Davis, the single mom who got taken for $3,600, says she alerted Facebook about Ronald Lewis' bogus page, but at press time it was still up-one of the 14.3 million "false" and "undesirable" accounts the company reports may exist on its site. Davis also contacted the FBI's IC3 unit, but Nickolas Savage, assistant section chief of the agency's cyber criminal section, admits, "The FBI is not going to be able to prosecute [even] a $9,000 loss." Still, he Continueclonnextpage ~

216 GLA MOUR.COM OC TOBER 2012