Justice - Love feigned via chat: Indictment for fraud
Out of affection for her supposed lover in the USA, a Berlin woman paid fraudsters almost 40,000 euros. However, when the 56-year-old wanted to hand over the money to a suspected accomplice in a hotel in Bad Homburg, Hesse, local police officers intervened in consultation with colleagues in Berlin. The Berlin public prosecutor's office has now brought charges of attempted fraud, as a spokesperson announced on Thursday. It initially remained unclear whether the handover had been deliberately arranged in order to convict the fraudsters.
The 31 and 34-year-old men allegedly tricked the woman between November 2020 and March 2021 into believing that she had a romantic relationship with a man being held in the USA. According to the investigation, the businessman then allegedly complained that he could not export 100 kilograms of gold without paying 40,000 euros. In order to help him, the Berlin woman then wanted to send him this sum, according to the public prosecutor's office.
The police refer to such cases as "love scamming" or "romance scamming". The scam is simple: singles - usually women - are contacted by a chat partner who often lives abroad. However, the person's CV is a lie and interest is feigned. During the chat, an emergency is feigned and financial support is requested. The spokesperson for the Berlin public prosecutor's office was unable to say how the investigators became aware of the specific case.
Statement from the public prosecutor's office
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Source: www.stern.de
