Czech police are warning single women to be cautious when getting involved in online relationships with strangers from abroad.
A middle-aged woman from the Přerov region has been scammed out of nearly a nearly 1,000,000 CZK after she fell in love with someone who claimed to be from Great Britain. According to police, this scenario is becoming a cliche at this point with the same scam occurring over and over again. A woman falls in love with someone over the internet, and the scammer then makes up various reasons why she needs to send him money in order for them to be together. In this case, the man told her he was buying them an apartment in the Czech Republic, and after the purchase was done, they would then live happily ever after.
He reportedly told her that he needed the money to pay for bureaucratic fees in regards to the purchase.
“At the end of February, the woman met a foreigner through social media and, after a short electronic communication, the man charmed her so much that she sent him roughly 946,000 CZK in one month,” Police spokeswoman Miluše Zajícová said.
Zajícová says more money probably would’ve been sent if the woman’s family didn’t find out about it and urge her to stop and call the police.
“Further payments might have been made if the family of the victim hadn’t intervened, forcing her to report her lover’s fraud. The police officers acting on duty knew right away that the lady had become a victim of fraud, so they initiated criminal proceedings for this crime.”
“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case, and this is being repeated across the country despite our investigations and warnings. We therefore appeal primarily to single women to be very careful when communicating electronically with strangers and to logically consider who they’re talking to. It is also necessary to pay close attention to any promises being made in a relationship by a person from abroad,” Zajícová said.
