The woman on the phone thinks she has a fiancé in the US. But the romantic emails she's been receiving are
really coming from a small town in Nigeria.
Laura Lyons has to break the bad news.
She's a private investigator who specialises in tracking down online romance fraudsters, otherwise known as "catfish".
"When you have to go back to individuals and explain to them that this person doesn't exist, they're not real, that is really hard to do," she says.
The catfish are often based in Africa and work from pre-written romantic scripts in internet cafes.
Their stories are designed to tug at the heart strings and to empty bank accounts.
How I set out to catch a romance scammer
A friend of mine was just discussing this with me, the other day.
One of her own friends who got caught up in one of these scams is now virtually penniless after having given her life savings to a scammer who told her that he loved her !
She is now suffering with depression and feeling lonely and poor. The sad thing is that she is a highly educated and an intelligent person.
really coming from a small town in Nigeria.
Laura Lyons has to break the bad news.
She's a private investigator who specialises in tracking down online romance fraudsters, otherwise known as "catfish".
"When you have to go back to individuals and explain to them that this person doesn't exist, they're not real, that is really hard to do," she says.
The catfish are often based in Africa and work from pre-written romantic scripts in internet cafes.
Their stories are designed to tug at the heart strings and to empty bank accounts.
How I set out to catch a romance scammer
A friend of mine was just discussing this with me, the other day.
One of her own friends who got caught up in one of these scams is now virtually penniless after having given her life savings to a scammer who told her that he loved her !
She is now suffering with depression and feeling lonely and poor. The sad thing is that she is a highly educated and an intelligent person.