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Romance scams prey on lonely people looking to connect with someone and will move fast with the scammer speaking of a future together and tell you they love you quickly and within time, they are asking for money. A new example to be aware of includes the romance scam actor using recruitment and grooming tactics to steal money by establishing a relationship on social media, then later phone calls and then the relationship turns threatening when the actor wants more money.

The actor may tell the victim that they are a resident somewhere but then work out of state.  Then they move onto trying to obtain funds from the victim saying they need to repair something because their bank account was frozen due to inactivity. The actor then says they are owed payment for previous work out of the country and asked to use the victim’s address to receive a package from out of the country containing payment for that previous work. Once the victim agrees to get them out of the country package, they are advised to send a domestic wire over thousands of dollars to cover customs fees. The perpetrator ensures the victim would be reimbursed for the payments. Then the victim is continually emailed that there are new customs issues and that more money needs to be wired to cover government fees and avoid being investigated by the FBI.

After several months, the criminal actor transitioned from using romance tactics to threatening the victim with reprisals by various US law enforcement agencies purportedly involved in regulating the delivery of packages across international borders. The victim’s initial romantic motivations changed to feelings of fear and desperation as the victim continued to send additional funds in hopes of recovering funds previously sent.

Metro Credit Union Omaha

Metro Credit Union takes great precaution in preventing fraud but all members should be aware that criminals come up with new schemes each and every day. If it does not feel right, odds are it isn’t right! Please alert us to any such potential scams that you may feel are being perpetrated by contacting us with as many details as possible.