Why Do Singles Make Good Scam Victims?

• In an episode of

  Face au crime

  dedicated to love scams, accessible on MyCanal, investigative journalist Mariana Van Zeller goes to Ghana where criminal networks have made these scams a specialty.

• Middle-aged American women are robbed after weeks of romantic exchanges with men who present themselves as Americans but who actually live in Ghana.

• Why do these networks specialize in dating?

How do you end up emptying your bank account for someone you've never seen IRL?

An episode of

dedicated to online love scams, broadcast this Tuesday on the National Geographic channel and accessible on MyCanal for a month, sets up its cameras in Ghana where “love scams” ​​are commonplace.

Investigative journalist Mariana Van Zeller goes to meet the victims, rather well-to-do middle-aged American women, divorced or widowed, who have paid colossal sums to their Prince Charming 2.0.

On the other side of the screen, the one who presents himself as an American in all respects is in fact a Ghanaian who works for an organized ring of romance scams.

These scams surged during the Covid-19 health crisis.

Reported losses in 2021 reached a record $547 million, according to an article by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), published in February 2022. For its part, the Arkose Labs platform, which specializes in fraud and its prevention, counted more than 4 million scams on dating apps, according to an article by

published in May 2021. Why do single people seem to make perfect prey for these online thefts?

Weeks of trust

The documentary

on Netflix, which retraces the insane scams of the Israeli Simon Leviev accused of having defrauded three women he met on the dating application, shows how women in search of love are robbed.

First, a boost of confidence for several weeks, made up of gifts, tender words.

They are in love and for weeks, he meets all their expectations until the changeover.

Simon Leviev, diamond heir (in his scenario) finds himself in mortal danger, he can no longer use his bank cards to avoid being spotted by his enemies.

His conquests, worried about the one with whom they think of founding a family, pay him colossal sums to support his lifestyle as a pasha.

But the profile is not always the one portrayed by the Netflix documentary.

“It is often single people, widows, more or less old, who experience a form of emotional isolation,” observes Olivia Mons, spokesperson for the France Victimes association.

It's not always people who are actively on dating apps, as seen in

.

They may have left their social networks open, making it easy for predators to contact them and enact their criminal plan.

In

, the victims met their scammers on Facebook dating.

And contrary to prejudice, many men are also targeted: they often have a better financial situation and are more numerous on dating apps.

“If I want, I can scam you”

“The trap is extremely well done, it is sometimes weeks of influence, confidence, affection or even love, describes Olivia Mons.

We do everything for the person we love”.

And even without having met her lover, digital life takes a very important place in everyday life.

“You just have to observe the damage caused by cyberbullying,” she continues.

It feels like it couldn't happen to us because we know, but it can happen to anyone.

This is what one of the scammers says to Mariana Van Zeller in the documentary.

"If I want, I can scam you," he assures her.

The scenarios are unstoppable.

And as long as we have a little humanity… Because the scammer will play on the sensitive chord: a health problem, an imminent danger, financial insecurity.

He is on a trip abroad and his papers have been stolen, he has family problems… The framework is not always the same but it works every time.

Especially since the scammer has sometimes started by sending gifts – like Simon Leviev – or lent money to the victim so that she sees nothing but fire.

In

, the scammers dig up the scripts online, improve them, they have answers for everything, and they work as a team.

One takes care of the scenario, another, an image editing specialist, creates a false identity from scratch, a third, nicknamed the

will take over at the very end when the victim is ready to put his hand in his pocket.

They juggle between dozens of victims in parallel and there is no question of getting tangled up between the different scenarios developed.

The difference with Simon Leviev is that they never meet their prey since they live in West Africa.

Everything is done online.

But a question remains: how these women and men do not have a flea in their ears when they hear the voices of their interlocutors, transformed, often very serious and robotic, not to mention the accent, very far from an American pronunciation ?

The question will remain unresolved, but the investigation clearly shows the effectiveness of the criminal network which has taken on terrible proportions in Ghana.

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