They Posed as Soldiers in Love. Over 30 People Lost $2.1 Million.
It often started with a hope for love, then quickly turned into a promise of gold. In one tragic case, it ended in death.
A woman had struck up a romance on a dating website with a man who said he was a United States soldier stationed overseas. He claimed to have more than $12 million worth of gold from Syria but needed help bringing it to the United States, so she sent him $93,000.
He sent back a photograph of an Israeli diplomat she was supposed to meet at the Baltimore airport who was going to bring her “two trunks with ‘family treasure’,” according to a criminal complaint. But he never showed up. The next day, she killed herself.
The United States attorney for New Jersey has said that the woman’s death was part of a complex and brazen fraud that swindled more than 30 people out of about $2.1 million.
The scheme, officials said, was run by two people in New Jersey and their associates in Ghana. It usually involved someone posing as an American service member on a dating website and “wooing” a target “with words of love,” according to the complaint.
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On Wednesday, the F.B.I. arrested one New Jersey man, Rubbin Sarpong, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. A lawyer for Mr. Sarpong did not respond to a message seeking comment.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/they-posed-as-soldiers-in-love-over-30-people-lost-dollar21-million/ar-AAGRMwA?li=BBnb7Kz
This sounds like the Nigerian prince scam. I feel bad for the woman who took her own life. That said when something sounds too good to be true it usually is.