Online love scam costs Perth woman $300,000

THE identity of a man believed to be dying from cancer was stolen and used to trick Australian women into handing over hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Online love scam targeting Aussie women

THE IDENTITY of a man who police say is dying from cancer has been stolen by con artists and used to rort at least three Australian women of more than $350,000 in an online love scam.

The Western Australia Police Major Fraud Squad and Consumer Protection uncovered the scam after it was recently revealed the state was losing more than $1.5 million per month in internet scams operated from West Africa.

The con involved a fake interior designer calling himself “Allan McCarty” who tricked women across three Australian states into each sending ‘him’ tens of thousands of dollars.

Among the hardest hit victims was a Perth woman who was defrauded of $300,000.

Acting Commissioner for Consumer Protection Gary Newcombe said the scammers used Facebook pages along with a bogus business website to create a belief that a man called Allan McCarty, an interior designer originally from Scotland but now residing in Australia, existed and was looking for love online.

“One West Australian has sent $300,000 to overseas criminals after being convinced that she is in a relationship with Allan McCarty who needs money for his business,” Mr Newcombe said.

“Our officers have also located women in New South Wales, including one who sent $50,000, and another victim in Tasmania. All thought they were romantically involved with the same person who doesn’t actually exist.”

Mr Newcombe said the real man in the photographs had been identified but attempts to contact him had been unsuccessful.

“We know that the man in the photographs lives in California. He has low security and privacy settings on his Facebook profile, making it easy for scammers to steal his pictures,” he said.

“In real life, this man appears to have been battling cancer and we suspect the fraudsters have picked him for that reason — they can potentially use as an excuse not to meet the victims in person and to seek financial assistance.

“Although some of the victims’ money went to the United States or Dubai, where Allan McCarty was supposedly working, funds are understood to have been funnelled through money mule accounts to West Africa.”

Since 2011, West Australians have sent more than $37 million to overseas criminals pretending to offer romance or investment opportunities.

More than 3500 letters have recently been sent to people whose financial transactions indicate they are supplying money to fraudsters in West African countries.

Project Sunbird, run by the Western Australian Police, began in May 2012 to investigate whether transfer of funds, from WA to West Africa, were as a result of ‘request for money’ scams.

Police figures show so-called Nigerian scammers fleeced West Australians of more than $6.5 million between May and August 2012 — that’s more than $1.5 million a month.

The scams, known by authorities as ‘advance fee frauds’, have operated worldwide for decades and take a wide variety of forms.

Police said they involve fraudsters convincing victims to send money to get a benefit, which can be financial or, in many cases, relate to personal relationships.

TIPS TO AVOID ROMANCE FRAUD

— If you begin the relationship online ensure you can meet in person. Scammers use email, phone and Skype and may even send greeting cards or flowers but will give excuses as to why they cannot see you face-to-face.

— Be suspicious of anyone who tries to get you off a dating website and onto email quickly or anyone who randomly tries to connect with you via email, Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype or Viber.

— Know that text used by the scammers is usually a script, so if you copy and paste a message into Google and find it exists elsewhere on the internet it’s a scam.

—If photos are supplied, do a Google Image search at images.google.com to check whether those photos have been used in romance scams or are stolen from someone.

— Do not send money to a love interest you met online. Overseas payments via wire transfer (Western Union or Moneygram) are generally not possible to trace. Bank accounts, even those in Australia, may have been opened with forged identities or be owned by a fraud victim who is laundering money.

Find out more at www.scamnet.wa.gov.au/ProjectSunbird