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Woman duped out of $10K by romance scammer


A 50-year old Georgia woman was just duped out of $10,000 by a scammer pretending to be Honolulu resident John Kim. His picture was used to setup a fake Facebook profile that gained the woman’s trust.

John Kim’s fake Facebook profile


The scammer set up a fake Facebook profile which was used to gain the recently divorced woman’s trust. In only 2 months he had developed a romantic relationship with her and had even convinced her to shun her own children. The scammer’s “sad story” was that he had accumulated all of this money while serving in the military and had no one to share it with. He was tired of being alone and was going to come back to the states and give all the money to her. He just needed $10,000 to have his valuables shipped over and she gave it to him.

Unfortunately, these romance scams happen all too often and take advantage of parents and grandparents that are not so tech savvy. In this case, even after the real John Kim came forward and spoke with the lady on video chat, she refused to concede that it was a scam. It was her kids that stepped forward to intervene and this is an important point.

According to the FBI’s internet crime and complaint center (IC3), romance scams are among the top 3 reported scams out there. However, the number of cases may actually be a lot higher due to the social stigma and shame that often comes along with being duped by a cyber criminal, especially in this way. Unfortunately romance scams are becoming more common in this time of social isolation and social media dependence. Those who are being targeted grew up in a generation where these kind of scams just happen to people. It’s unfortunate, but victims come into these situations with pure intentions and open hearts and that’s what makes them vulnerable. So keep an eye out on your parents and grandparents for anything unusual. It’s up to you to keep them safe from romance scams.

Hopefully this video has been interesting and informative and if you know of someone who might benefit from it, pass it along. We’re all in this together and thank you for giving us the opportunity to be of service to the community.

Stay safe out there

-A

PS. Want to know who’s the guy from the Hippie Apocalypse? Here’s the video that explains it all!


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