February 11th, 2008 | 
Author: Thousands of Australians are at risk from a relatively new online scam targeting the desperate and dateless, Queensland police say.
The state’s Fraud and Corporate Crimes Group has noticed a growing number of cases of men and women being lured into online relationships by Nigerian fraudsters posing as prospective lovers.
In the latest case, Gold Coast resident Patricia (surname withheld for privacy reasons) lost $8500 when she became involved with a fraudster posing as an Australian retiree using the name “David”.
After six months developing what Patricia believed to be a loving relationship, David said he had to travel to Nigeria to sell some land, which he promised would set them up for life.
While there, he supposedly got mugged and asked Patricia to send money to help him return home.
Superintendent Brian Hay said such “romance scams” cost their victims about $35,000 on average…
Posted in PC Security
