Woman Loses $300,000 in Romance Scam:
Ok, “don’t fall in love with this man” might be a little unfair of us, as it happens, because the man pictured above is actually, probably a really nice person with good intentions.
However, Precise Investigation has made numerous mentions of the dangers associated with meeting people online, let alone falling in love with them, in our blog posts and social media. If you don’t do your due diligence and dig a little deeper to find out who these people really are, they can turn around and bite you on the behind.
This morning, we read the news of a Western Australian woman who met Allan McCarty online (pictured above), a successful interior designer originally from Scotland, now living in Australia, and went on to form a virtual relationship. Now, $300,000 poorer, the woman came forward to report the fact that she’d fallen victim to a romance scam, explaining that the man is actually a Nigerian fraudster who lied to her to gain her trust and access to her money.
The man, whose real identity remains a mystery, is believed to have stolen Alan’s identity to specifically siphon off large amounts of cash from at least three victims; taking 300K from the first, mentioned above, and 50K each from another two ladies, one of whom is believed to reside in New South Wales.
Following these allegations, investigators made attempts to contact the real Allan McCarty, revealing that the man in the photos lives in California, and is currently suffering from cancer. It is believed that the people who stole his identity were aware of his condition, and used it against their victims as a means to play on their hearts.
Allan’s Facebook account is backed by the most basic of the social network’s security settings, which is why it was so easy for these fraudsters to steal his identity, photographs and personal information. With that, we previously wrote an article that describes how to protect yourself from dating and romance scams, which you can view by clicking here.
The article refers to a few tips from Scamwatch, after online dating scams skyrocketed earlier in 2014. If you’d like to have a look at the original Scamwatch article, please click here.
Since 2011, Western Australians alone, have transferred over $37 Million to criminals overseas, whom the victims believed to be real, potential love interests. Worse still, according to the Scamwatch website, in September of this year (2015), $1,027,759 was stolen from people throughout the country as a direct result of romance and dating scams alone, with 221 cases reported.
While there is very little we can do to help you from a distance, in ensuring that the way you use the internet is safe for you and those around you, but in the event that someone were to make you feel as though you were in danger, either over the internet or offline, please contact us immediately and we’ll work with you to overcome the issue.
Precise Investigation has faithfully served hundreds of Australian businesses and individuals over the last three decades, applying a wealth of experience and expertise to every case we undertake so that we can guarantee the best results for our clients. We are regularly called upon to investigate a wide range of issues, both at home and business, including corporate and domestic relationships, workplace matters, insurance claims, cases of fraud and likened scams, healthcare concerns and more.
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Precise Investigation can have a specialist field operative, with dedicated support team, available and ready to serve you or your company whether you’re based in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart or even the more remote areas of Australia. Wherever you are, rest assured that Precise Investigation can help you to overcome your troubles and protect yourself against the likes of fraud, misconduct, lies and malpractice.
