She had gambling debts to pay off, so she became the female
tinder swindler! Then there’s the woman who scammed her own supposed best friend
with an imaginary uncle! Let’s get right into the worst of the romance scammers:
4 - Off Base Romance Ring
Florence Musau and Mark Arome Okuo from Canton, Massachusetts,
were caught defrauding people out of millions through elaborate romance
scams. Four other people were involved in the scam, including four Nigerian nationals. Still,
Musau and Okuo were the ringleaders and scammed their victims out of more than $1.3 million.
Profiles Musau used
fake identities to create profiles on dating apps and social media platforms.
She used these aliases to find victims and lie to them about her romantic intentions.
Then, she swindled them out of thousands of dollars when they fell for it.
She had fake passports made with the names Precious Adams and Catherine
Muthoki to open bank accounts in the Boston area where her victims could deposit the
funds. Musau's accomplices told their victims to deposit their money into her accounts.
She would then withdraw the money in amounts less than $10,000 to avoid suspicion.
In 2018, one of the six conspirators found a victim online and told her he was a member of
the U.S. military deployed in the Middle East. He sweet-talked the woman into sending $20,000
into a Santander bank account, so he could retire early and come live with her in the United States.
Okuo took the same approach in his scamming. He often claimed to be a U.S. soldier in the
Middle East or Africa. As the online romance with his victims developed, he claimed he was
desperate to leave the military and come home, but he needed money first.
In one case, a woman transferred $137,000 to an account controlled by Musau
and Okuo so that Okuo could claim retirement benefits early and return to marry her.
In another case, he told a woman from Georgia that he worked in the oil industry in Kuwait.
However, he was in love with her and needed $4,700
to be with her in the U.S. The woman quickly wired the money to him.
In 2020, Musau told a man that she was working at a United Nations refugee camp in the Middle East
and wanted to come to the U.S. to start a new life with him.
The victim sent her $7,800 to help her move out of the Middle East.
But of course, these digital romances never materialized.
Of the $1.3 million stolen, most came from romance scams,
and another $20,000 came from pandemic unemployment claims. The scammers used the names
of unsuspecting Massachusetts residents who were still employed and had never applied for benefits.
Aftermath Musau and Okuo
were arrested on March 22, 2021. Musau pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to
commit bank and wire fraud, carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Ian Stearns offered a plea deal that would put Musau behind bars for four to five years.
Musau also forfeited $350,000 in stolen funds in addition to her 2013 Lexus sedan.
3 - Words with Scammers Garth Davis
When a widowed woman decided to pass some time on the Words with Friends mobile app,
she had no idea she would be scammed out of nearly $34,000. Words with Friends is a
mobile game similar to Scrabble, where you can play with your friends or random strangers as
you put tiles down and play words that get you the most points. It seems relatively
harmless until people with ulterior motives are matched with lonely, vulnerable players.
The widowed woman from Tennessee—we'll call her Sarah—decided to download Words with Friends after
her husband died earlier that year. She started playing against a man who said his name was Garth
Davis, and they used the game's chat feature to get to know one another.
Eventually, the friendly competition evolved into a romantic relationship.
They moved the conversation to Google Hangouts, where they confided in one another. Then,
Garth told Sarah that he was having financial issues. He said he was a project manager on an
oil rig off the coast of Ireland and couldn't access his bank account. He
begged Sarah for help via cash and gift cards. She sent him thousands of dollars.
A few months later, Sarah broke her foot, which made it difficult to go out and buy
the gift cards for him. So he offered another option—she could send the money
via wire transfers to his' friend,' Carla Whaley. Sarah sent him $20,000 in cash
and another $3,000 through CashApp. But by July, Sarah grew suspicious and called the police.
Carla Ann Whaley
Fearing that Sarah was catfished, the cops went to Whaley's home to find this mysterious "Garth
Davis." But Whaley denied knowing anyone named "Garth Davis." She admitted to the police that she
was helping a friend move money but wouldn’t tell them who that friend was because she wasn't a rat.
A few months later, police brought Whaley in for more questioning.
She confessed to lying and said she received $20,000
from Sarah. Police looked at Whaley's CashApp transactions and saw that she received the money,
exchanged it for cryptocurrency, and then sold it for cash. Between July and August,
she transferred more than $10,000 to her personal bank account. There was no Garth Davis;
it had been Carla Whaley the whole time. Not only was the widowed Sarah swindled out of thousands of
dollars, but she was emotionally manipulated at one of the loneliest times in her life.
Whaley was arrested in her home and brought to jail. She was charged with one count of fraudulent
schemes and one count of financing a criminal syndicate. The lead detective on the case,
Gary Kidder, said this is a common scam. And they're not just limited to dating apps.
Red Flags
There are a lot of warning signs to look for if you think
you or someone you know may be on the verge of getting scammed.
Scammers usually begin the chat by saying that they're out of the country for some reason,
like work, the military, or family. This creates distance between them and the victim. Then,
they'll work on establishing trust before coming up with a medical problem or business emergency
that leaves them desperate for money. Many victims feel a sense of loyalty and send the money,
especially after chatting with the scammers for a while. But be warned:
scammers are never finished asking for money. Once you send it, they'll ask again. And again.
If you see a loved one talking to someone online asking for money, ask how they met that person in
the first place. In 2019, an estimated 25,000 people lost $201 million to romance scams.
The average victim lost $2,600 each. Victims over age 70 lost an average of $10,000 or more.
2 - My Best Friend No Lies
Susan and Anna met while working at an assisted living facility.
It started when Susan lent Anna a hair tie to keep her hair out of her clients' food.
They became fast friends and started going to nightclubs and on vacations together.
But their friendship was built on lies. Anna said she was one of three triplets,
two girls and a boy. But her brother died, so her biological parents put baby Anna and her sister
in a plastic bag in the middle of Liverpool. Susan felt horrible for her sob story.
The lies got worse when Susan said she had a crush on a nightclub bouncer named
"Ste." Anna quickly turned around and said that Ste was her uncle.
The Uncle
Susan lost touch with Ste until one day, eight years later, long after the club closed down.
Ste called her to say he owned a business in Las Vegas and wanted a camcorder for Christmas,
but his cousin Anna wouldn't get him one. He asked Susan to buy one for him.
Susan didn't think this was strange because she had been getting updates from Anna about
Ste over the years. Anna said Ste was recently married and divorced and had
two children since he last saw Susan at the club. Things took an intense turn
when Anna told Susan that Ste needed money for cancer treatment in the United States.
Apparently, he was participating in experimental treatment in Maryland,
and Anna couldn't cover the cost herself. So Susan agreed to cover half of it. It started
at £1,000 per month and started increasing over time. Two years into the cancer scheme,
Ste needed money to buy an apartment attached to the hospital for £450 per month.
Susan found herself in a mounting debt she couldn't climb out of.
She worked as many shifts as she could to cover Ste's treatment costs,
especially since he promised a future with her once he recovered.
Then, Anna's lies came crashing down.
The Truth
Susan realized Anna was lying when she saw her son's location
wasn't in the United States, where Anna said they were taking care of Ste.
In December 2019, Susan had a breakdown. Her mental health
was so poor that she had to move in with a friend.
Susan started researching other things about Anna's life. When she called Anna's employer—a
place she claimed to work for 10 years—they said they had no record of any employee named Anna.
Susan researched Ste and saw no birth, death, or marriage records for anyone named Ste Lucas.
Anna scammed Susan out of £117,000. In Anna's house,
police discovered all of the get-well cards and gifts Susan sent to Ste. Anna pleaded guilty to
fraud and was sentenced to 28 months in prison plus a 15-year restraining order.
Even though justice might be served, Susan struggles to get over her best friend's betrayal.
She has trust issues and is afraid to use public transportation. She’s still so anxious
that she can't work and hopes that her story will warn other potential victims of fraud.
1 - The Female Tinder Swindler Jocelyn Zakhour
Jocelyn Zakhour is an Australian woman who used Tinder to scam her matches out of money
to pay back her gambling debts. Zakhour was living the high life as a Crown Casino VIP member.
But she needed more money to fuel her gambling addiction.
Blueberries & Tobacco
Zakhour took to Tinder to convince her matches to invest in blueberry and tobacco farms in New
South Wales. One of the men was a chief executive with money to spare. He gave
in to her requests as they built a romantic relationship online. He sent $730,000 in 17
installments over five months. He believed his money was going towards seeds, farm worker
salaries, and harvests. Instead, it ended up in Poker machines at Melbourne's Crown Casino.
But he was hesitant when she ran out of that money and asked for more. So,
she sent him 240 emails in three weeks that threatened his wife, mother, and children.
Around the same time, Zakhour convinced another financial planner to transfer $61,000
for a fruit and vegetable farm. In June 2018, she persuaded
one Tinder match to send her $110,000 and another to send $50,000 on the same day.
Busted
One of the men contacted the police, discovering that Zakhour didn't have a blueberry, tobacco,
or fruit and vegetable farm... just a gambling addiction.
Zakhour pleaded guilty, and a judge sentenced her to four years and eight months behind bars.
Zakhour appealed to reduce her sentence, arguing that the men
knew what they were getting into when they matched with her on Tinder. The judge didn't buy it.
Click to watch one of these next videos!
Let us know in the comment section what you’d rather do to find a date,
swipe online first and meet up or try to meet someone in person first?