Beware of scammers out there

I read and hear about endless stories of scammed victims. They vary and trust me; they will keep changing for as long as we live. I have discussed scammers before, but today; allow me to talk about love scams.

Almost gone are the days when someone will come to you directly to ask for money. The probable response would be a no. To yield something, many feign situations that will prompt another to give a substantial amount of money, including death or sickness.

But perhaps the most outrageous is a love scam. Two people meet online and the scammer always initiates conversation. Scammers are very patient. After a while, a relationship develops and what remains is a meeting. We have heard about women conning men of money in the pretext of transport money only to embezzle it and get off line. They may go to the extent of lying to the man about the expected day of their arrival only to keep him waiting at their agreed  tête-à-tête.

A recent case baffled me. An online relationship matured to a meeting. The lovers met and within minutes of their meeting, the relationship was consummated. The scammer was the man and after several outings, he convinced her to make payments for their dates because his online outlets were ‘acting up’. Before long, thousands of kwachas were spent, but he did not reimburse on time as she had to return to her base. Meanwhile, he has ‘disappeared’ without a trace. She is confused and blaming herself for falling in love with this phantom. She wants her money, period.

Dating sites are many and even without them; people have found love and are still finding it online. We cannot completely rule them out because some relationships are a product of surfing. Scammers are particularly rampant online. In the comfort of their homes, they lure unsuspecting victims to rooms for sex in the name of love. They lure people into deep emotions by being all lovey dovey when in reality they are simply playing with them. 

Please be careful. There is a syndicate out there robbing people. They will scam you as many have been, even abroad. People are investing in technology and will say things you want to hear. They feed on vulnerability and loneliness. And because people fall in love, in becomes easy to part with their life’s savings or even go into debts to please this man or woman they hardly know. I have never been a fan of online dating and I am not here to judge. Love can be found anywhere. Just be careful.