No Love Lost: Stolen Pictures Used to Trick Singles

 

Millions of single people turn to the Internet to meet other singles.

Many use dating websites in hopes of finding¹ that special someone. But there are some people who want nothing more than to trick singles, using their desire for a loving relationship to get their money.

VOA recently investigated one such effort. Criminals used pictures of United States armed forces members to steal money from women around the world.

One of those women is Lilo Schuster. She began looking online to try to find a boyfriend or a husband.

Then one day, Schuster received a promising² email from someone on a dating website. The message came from someone who claimed he was a pilot in Afghanistan.

“And it was a widow(er), and he said that he was in the Air Force, that he was fighting the Taliban -- the terrorists³ -- that he had a, a daughter. I just thought ‘Oh my, my prayers are being answered.’”

The relationship quickly became serious. Schuster said she fell in love. She soon began sending the man emails throughout the day. He sent her poetry and messages saying he loved her. He even sent her pictures of himself in his military clothing.

“As soon as I had the pictures, I would -- this is so stupid -- I would carry them around. I would show people.”

Schuster noticed that the man did not write well. But she remembered her father was an immigrant⁴, and his writing was not very good. So she did not think it was a problem.

But she and her love interest never spoke⁵ by telephone. When she asked to do so, the man said he was not permitted to do so.

“We never talked, we never Skyped because his thing was ‘Well, this is top secret, we’re fighting the terrorists, we can’t do anything that would compromise⁶ that so I can’t use the phone.’”

After a few weeks, the man told her he needed money to help his daughter go on a school trip. So she sent a few thousand dollars to Britain, where the man said his mother lived with his daughter.

“I’m helping⁷ him. This is for our future. It’s embarrassing⁸ but that’s the feelings that I was feeling.”

But after she sent the money, the man asked for more. He said he wanted to leave the Air Force and join some of his friends who were starting a small company.

The man told Schuster that the Air Force would not let him remove money from his bank account. He said he needed her help. She was suspicious⁹, but she still sent more money to him.

“You’re so scared. You don’t want to lose them -- you’ll just do anything, and that’s what I did. So I just started to continue to wire money.”

Schuster sent a total of $22,000. Almost immediately after she sent the last amount, he stopped sending her emails.

“My heart just sank and I thought ‘this doesn’t seem right.’”

Chris Grey is with the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigations¹⁰ Command. He says he has heard stories like Schuster’s many times.

“It’s been just overwhelming¹¹. We are dealing¹² with thousands of these. I’ve personally spoken to women who’ve given upwards¹³ of $75,000, $80,000 to someone that they’ve never met in person.”

Online criminals are also targeting people in other countries. Grey says women from Japan, Britain and Australia have called his office. He says they thought they were in love with a U.S. service member but were actually being tricked.

Grey says many of these criminals operate from “cyber cafes” in West African countries like Nigeria and Ghana. He says they take photographs of U.S. troops from social media. They then create a story and begin to target women on dating sites.

Grey has some simple advice: “Never send money to someone that you’ve never met, never talked to on the phone.”

Grey says there are several signs to watch for. They include misspellings on documents and mistakes with capitalization. Other signs include using names of organizations that do not exist or using logos that are in disagreement with official images or designs.

Grey says cyber criminals sometimes send documents with U.S. Army logos when the writer claims to be serving in the Navy¹⁴.

Schuster turned her anger into action. By sharing her story, she says she helped a woman in New Zealand and an American discover that they were being lied to.

“Same story and the same exact pictures were used to these two other women.”

If you suspect you are being tricked by someone online, do not send them money -- especially if they are in another country. You should call police or postal¹⁵ officials.

Words in This Story

date – v. to do an activity with someone you have or might have a romantic relationship with; to go on a date or several dates with (someone)

online – adj. done over the Internet

compromise – v. to expose (something) to risk or danger

wire – v. to send (money) by using electronic methods

overwhelming – adj. used to describe something that is so confusing, difficult, etc., that you feel unable to do it

upwards of – adv. more than (an amount or number)

cyber café – n. a café or coffee shop where customers can use computers to search the Internet

misspell – v. to spell (a word or name) incorrectly

capitalize – v. to begin (a word or name) with a capital letter

logo – n. a symbol that is used to identify a company and that appears on its products

1 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

2 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

3 terrorists   

n.恐怖主义者，恐怖分子( terrorist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The terrorists have halted their bloody campaign of violence. 恐怖分子已经停止了他们凶残的暴力活动。
• They were finally forced to capitulate to the terrorists' demands. 他们最后被迫屈从恐怖分子的要求。

4 immigrant   

adj.(从国外)移来的，移民的；n.移民，侨民

参考例句：

• Life in the USA was very hard for almost every new immigrant.美国的生活几乎对每一个新移民都很艰难。
• I'd like to obtain some information about applying for an immigrant visa.我想取一些申请移民签证的资料。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 compromise   

n.妥协；妥协方案；vt.损害；vi.妥协，让步

参考例句：

• The spokesman made it clear that no compromise was yet in sight.发言人表明，目前还不会妥协。
• The probable outcome of the talks is a compromise.会谈的结果很可能是妥协。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 embarrassing   

adj.使人尴尬的，令人为难的v.（使）窘迫，（使）局促不安( embarrass的现在分词)

参考例句：

• His jokes didn't even raise a smile, which was embarrassing. 听了他讲的笑话，都没人笑一下，真是太尴尬了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was in the embarrassing position of having completely forgotten her name. 当时我完全忘记了她的名字，很是尴尬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 suspicious   

adj.可疑的，容易引起怀疑的，猜疑的，疑心的

参考例句：

• A man was hanging about the house in a suspicious manner.一个男人在房子周围可疑地荡来荡去。
• He's so suspicious he would distrust his own mother.他这个人疑心太重，连自己的母亲也不相信。

10 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

11 overwhelming   

adj.势不可挡的，压倒的，无法抵抗的

参考例句：

• The flood was overwhelming and the city was soon drowned.洪水来势凶猛，很快这个城市就被淹没了。
• The act was adopted by an overwhelming majority.该法案以压倒多数通过。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

14 navy   

n.海军，海军人员，海军军力，藏青色

参考例句：

• My brother is in the navy.我兄弟在海军服役。
• He has transferred from the army to the navy.他从陆军转到海军。

15 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。