Crimewatch BBC1 9.00pm tonight.

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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 1:50 pm

Quote:

SOCA is hoping for a similar response after a Crimewatch feature on romance scam fraud on BBC1 at 9pm, 15 June 2010.

SOCA fraud expert Colin Woodcock is interviewed during the piece which focuses on a particularly harrowing story of one victim and follows a journalist's attempt to uncover and confront some of the criminals in Ghana.

The piece highlights the arrest of a man suspected of posing as an American soldier and conning British women out of at least £772,000. He was arrested after SOCA instigated a sting operation in conjunction with the local police.

Clicky.

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 2:54 pm

Anyone care to record the piece and upload it later? I'm out of the country ATM and I doubt iPlayer will work in Turkey Sad

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Moved here from Main Scambaiting.

Thanks for posting about this.

Quote:

The piece highlights the arrest of a man suspected of posing as an American soldier and conning British women out of at least £772,000. He was arrested after SOCA instigated a sting operation in conjunction with the local police.

Glad he was arrested. We've seen a ton of this type of scam at ScamWarners lately. Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:02 pm

Very good news Very Happy

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:05 pm

Excellent news Very Happy

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 13

Sorry never expected ppl new about it before it was broadcast, i wrote mine while it was being played.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 13

music man wrote:

Anyone care to record the piece and upload it later? I'm out of the country ATM and I doubt iPlayer will work in Turkey Sad

iplayer will work in Turkey if you use AN English proxy, so i hear. I would just like to say, it is proved if they want to catch the people they can, quite easy.

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:49 pm

If it's being broadcast in the UK, does that mean I won't be able to view it in the US? (Assuming it's on BBC)

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 13

As i said use an English proxy u can. its not on iplayer yet, i will put the link here , maybe others can convert?

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:15 pm

Try this :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/crimewatch/solved/howtheycaught/ghana_datingscammers.shtml

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 13

You got the piece Spot.

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:20 pm

^^^Just saw this

Unbelievable, did you see his mansion and the swimming pool ? Shocked

Great work by SOCA

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 13

So why can't they arrest more? that took 3 BBC reporters? got 4 or 5 that took just under 1 million. And they were put on it by a scam baiter by the sound of it

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:47 pm

Damn! The proxies won't even let me view it, saying that JavaScript needs to be turned on and to install Adobe Flash player.

Edit: Right when I got the player to work it told me it was not available in my area again.

Edit 2: None of the proxies are working and I can't find it on Youtube. So I'm not going to bother trying to watch it.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 13

You got the latest 10.1 flash players? my last player was updated last week

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 13

subway 1 wrote:

^^^Just saw this

Unbelievable, did you see his mansion and the swimming pool ? Shocked

Great work by SOCA

Yeah i saw the poor Nigerian in his mud hut, lol

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:02 pm

Where can I go to get that then? I tried many British proxies and I thought my flashplayer was up to date.

Edit: I'm going to try the inferior browser to Chrome, FireFox to see if I can view it.

Edit 2: I updated my flashplayer and installed Foxyproxy on Firefox but it will not load when I try to use the proxy. It acts like a broken link.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 13

No idea, i live in the uk, but i know a few people that get bbc in, canada and the usa, i will have to ask, but they aint here now. with all these comp savvy ppl here some1 must know.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 13

Here is the theme of it Can you put a value on love? If someone you cared for was in trouble and needed your support, wouldn't you pull out all the stops to help - even if it cost you money?

Screen grab of dialogue between victim and scammer
Many believe they are helping a nurse from America or perhaps a British soldier stuck in Afghanistan, the stories are elaborate and sophisticated. But they are just stories thought up by Ghanaian scammers.

The victims are lead into a trap, and made to feel like they are the only ones who can help. It's not until police and the serious organised crime agency knock at the door that the truth becomes clear, the love interests they’d been pursuing were actually fakes. This is the Romance Scam.

To those looking for love, lonely-hearts columns and Internet dating sites can be the answer to a new relationship, but increasingly fraudsters are using these gateways to prey on innocent Britons, luring them into a false sense of security then scamming them for cash. It's leaving a trail of victims up and down the country with emotional and financial ruin and it's costing us billions every year.

Dena White
Much of this fraud is coming out of West Africa and our film pays particular attention to the work SOCA has been doing in Ghana, a hot spot for scammers.

These organised gangs or syndicates join an online dating service and befriend their victims. They create fictitious online profiles often using stolen photos from the internet. They strike up a relationship with their victim, often spending weeks or months chatting online and building trust, letters are also written and sent by post. Then they invent a complicated situation where they claim to need money urgently and persuade their victim to send them cash.

Loaded 9mm Revolver found in the back of a car in Ghana and owned by a scammer
"He said he loved me…"

One such victim was Dena White, from West Yorkshire. Her experience at the hands of a Ghanaian romance scammer left her struggling financially and emotionally.

Dena started internet dating after the death of her husband a number of years ago, following a couple of false starts she finally met someone she thought she shared a real connection with.

He called himself Steve Moon, and claimed to be an American divorcee and retired army officer. They were soon spending hours every day emailing and instant messaging. "He said he loved me and he wanted to come here and see how we got on", Dena explained. She had no reason to feel suspicious, but then the scammer struck.

Asola Fadola
"We'd been communicating for about a month and then he said to me, 'I have to tell you, I'm not actually in America at the moment, I'm in Iraq'," Dena said.

The scammer went on to spin Dena a complicated story and eventually persuaded her to part with some money. She remortgaged her house and sent him everything she had - £45,000. But 'Steve' didn't stop there, telling Dena he was being held hostage in Iraq he claimed he need £120,000 to pay off his captors.

Just days before Dena sold her house police stepped in, they'd been tip-off anonymously. They broke the devastating news: Steve Moon had never existed. He was a fictional character created by a scammer, using photographs stolen from the internet. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) traced Dena's payments, and those of other victims, to the account of a Ghanaian businessman, Asola Fadola.

Asola Fadola's house in Ghana
SOCA, together with Ghana CID and Ghana National Fraud Office found Fadola after months of investigation, he was finally arrested earlier this year. But Dena is still suffering the consequences of the scam and faces the possibility of having to sell her house to cope.

Targeting the vulnerable

In the UK, SOCA has a special team dedicated to tackling this type of fraud, they work closely with Ghana Post, Ghana CID and Ghana National Fraud Office. Colin Woodcock, MBE a senior manager at SOCA says romance scammers target the lonely and the vulnerable. He says scammers are willing to devote hours to cultivating their victims before asking for money. "They are clever, clever people and they are very entrepreneurial," he said. "…there’s lots of conversations that go on for weeks and even months and they have to remember all of that."

When snaring online victims scammers will lift pictures of attractive people from the internet and claim it is a photograph of them. Colin explained that they often ask for smaller amounts of money initially, before persuading their targets to part with larger sums.

However people duped by the romance scam could even be risking far more frightening consequences than just losing money, according to Colin. "You could end up being kidnapped," he said. "That's happened. People have come here (Ghana) and been held until they've paid money."

Are you being scammed?

If you think you've been a victim of fraud, you can contact Action Fraud - the UK’s national fraud reporting centre. You will get a crime reference number and information on victim support. Action Fraud also offers information on how to protect yourself against becoming a victim. Find Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.org.uk or call 0300 123 2040. Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

SOCA also has these scam-busting tips for anyone considering using dating sites or singles columns:

Be suspicious of anyone you have not met in person asking you to send money abroad. Even a cheque for a small amount can provide fraudsters with your bank details and can be altered and used in other fraudulent ways.

Speak to them online via a webcam and ask yourself whether this is the same person you have been chatting to online or by email.

Tell someone trustworthy where you are going and plan regular contacts. Agree what they should do if you miss a contact.

Report incidents of actual or attempted frauds, kidnaps and extortion.

Think you can help?
Please use the form below to contact us about this appeal (items marked * are required).

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More about the case

Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:27 am

subway 1 wrote:

Unbelievable, did you see his mansion and the swimming pool ? Shocked

Great work by SOCA

If it can be confiscated and sold, his victims may get some of their money back. And if they investigate any prospective purchasers, they may cuff some more scammers.

Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 1:35 pm

If anyone ever questions our ethics again, they should be pointed to that video.

Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 2:30 pm

Well, i certainly haven't posted here in a while!

By chance I caught the end of crimewatch last night hand thus saw that piece. It got me hungry for baiting again. That reporter who did the meets in the hotel had some serious balls, be it brave or foolhardy. Seeing the guy's mansion gave me another reassurance that what we do here is right beyond question.

See you around!

Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:54 am

Grrrr I can't view the video.. Sad

Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 1:08 pm

^^ Koko Dn just go to BBC website and watch it online
here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:57 pm

BBC UK wrote:

Currently BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only, but all BBC iPlayer Radio programmes are available to you. Why?

If you are in the UK and see this message please read this advice.

Go to Radio channels home page

I can't. I don't live in the UK. Besides that iPlayer proxy didn't work at all either. (The one for FireFox called "Foxyproxy")

Crimewatch BBC1 9.00pm tonight.	View next topic View previous topic