Genuine Identity Theft Stories | Case #14: Romancing the Stones: Fraudster Woos Online Lover with Phony Diamonds

This web site show is specialized in sharing real-world stories of identification fraud and theft — and merely exactly just how devastating these crimes may be on companies, people, and families. Simply with time for Valentine’s Day, our post that is latest reveals the perils of succumbing to online romance frauds, and exactly just what the lovelorn can perform to guard against them.

Victim crime that is wired Hundreds of 1000s Of Dollars

The partnership from A japanese woman, identified in reports just as F.K., and a U.S. Army captain stationed in Syria started innocently sufficient: they came across on line, through a global social network that connected pen pals online. The relationship grew into an internet romance, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the case over 10 months of daily emails. Nonetheless it finished using the woman $200,000 in debt as well as on the verge of bankruptcy, after she borrowed funds from relatives and buddies to aid her beau, Capt. Terry Garcia, together with intends to smuggle a bag of diamonds he stated he present in Syria with assistance from a few associates, including somebody claiming to become a Red Cross diplomat.

As it happens that there have been no diamonds, with no Captain Garcia. Alternatively, F.K. dropped target up to a far-flung scam prepared up by way of a ring of cyber thieves operating in Los Angeles and Nigeria. U.S. police force officials apprehended a few of the causes, calling it “one of this biggest situations of its sort in U.S. history.” As well as the fallout is heartbreaking: as noted within the complaint that is federal “F.K.