Romance ScamScam A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost. Information Alert

Turkey Is Now A Hub Of Dating ScamsScams A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost.

It is logical that this will flow into all of the fringe countries of Europe!

Turkey romance scams are a growing problem and international investigators say it is perhaps one of the fastest growing countries in the world for fraudFraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain (money or other assets), or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensation) or criminal law (e.g., a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and imprisoned by governmental authorities), or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, for example by obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver's license, or mortgage fraud, where the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of false statements. A fraud can also be a hoax, which is a distinct concept that involves deliberate deception without the intention of gain or of materially damaging or depriving a victim., ranking with Malaysia and the UAE. Law enforcement and private investigators say it is essencial to use extra caution when communicating with people in these countries, and understand there is an increase risk online.

A Prime Example

Reprinted from an email of a victim from TurkeyCentral

I don’t know if he is for real or scamming me.  I dated someone from Morocco a few years back and I know that men from other countries can be a lot more expressive and romantic.  This “turk” I’ve met seems a lot like my ex.  Very romantic, moving very fast, etc..  He has sent me multiple photos and I did quiz him on the area we both live in and he seems to know the area.  He sounds like he is from Turkey and does speak and type in broken English.  I am not disputing he’s from Turkey as that seems on the up and up.  What is odd is that he can’t call much and he is out of town all of a sudden.

He claims he will be back into town this weekend and even sent me the airline confirmation email from the airline.  I felt better then because that showed me he is where he said he was and he is coming back home to where he says home is.  Another thing that concerns me is that he has a LA phone number.  He claimed he had to come in through LA to get all his paperwork in order when coming into the country from Turkey.  I checked and there are only 4 Turkish consulates in the US and LA is one of them.  I live in the Midwest.  He said he moved to my area because a Turkish friend of his lives here, but has now moved to Texas.  I live in a bigger city and he claims to be living in a small town right outside the city.  Unless you are familiar with the area, you wouldn’t come up with this small town.. He has information about it and seems to know about the area…  The phone number does throw me off.  I did some searching online and found a Facebook page that matches what he says.  

I am thinking it is too good to be true.  He is good looking and is very romantic and seems anxious to meet me.  It could be that he is out of town for a job and has some phone issues as he is on a yacht if he is to be believed. 

I could not figure out what possible angle he’s have for lying until last night.  I already know from him he has a son still living in Turkey.  He says he is bringing his son to the US before the end of the year because his ex-wife has died.  Here’s when things went wrong.  He said his son was in an accident.  The hospital needed money.  He said his son is in boarding school in Turkey and lives with a Guardian.  The Guardian had some of the money but not all.  I played along and asked how much.  He only said 450 dollars and that he would pay me back when he was in town this weekend, but he had no way of getting any money there being on the ocean on this yacht.  I refused.  I said I just couldn’t do that because I had not met him yet.  He seemed upset at first that I didn’t trust him.  I was fine ending things right there. 

He then said he understood.  He didn’t want that to be something that ended things with us and he would talk to me later.  He said he felt bad for asking.  I made it clear I had to meet him before I could trust him.  I don’t know if he was just not thinking straight because he was upset over his son (if he has one) or if he is scamming me.

 The scams don’t change, only the location. Tragic.

Background Checks Are The Key

If you need to investigate someone in Turkey or elsewhere, here is a resource:  http://globalinvestigations.blogspot.com/2013/03/turkey-background-checks-prevent.html

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