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Michael Jones. After leaving a healthcare services company in January of 2011 that he had started ten years prior, Michael had planned to spend some long-needed time with his family while deciding what his next course in business would be. It was during this sabbatical that he was revisiting a conversation with his father-in-law, a long-time Blue Mountain coffee farmer in Jamaica, about the severe disadvantages in the value chain of coffee, that ultimately led to the creation of Thrive Farmers – an innovative platform to change the world of coffee and align the interests of producers and consumers for the first time. Michael is the quintessential entrepreneur, having founded and operated several privately held companies. He has managed high growth companies and has been successful in building significant market value for shareholders. Most recently, Michael founded Implantable Provider Group (IPG), a provider of market-based medical implant solutions that is delivered to payors, manufacturers, providers and patients. In his role as President/COO, Michael was named one of Atlanta’s top 25 entrepreneurs by Catalyst Magazine in 2008 (#4). Jones was selected because of his role in founding IPG and turning it into one of the country’s fastest-growing businesses. In 2008, Inc. Magazine ranked IPG as the sixth-fastest growing healthcare company in the country (1,500% three year growth rate) and the 138th fastest-growing overall. FORBES Magazine recently ranked IPG at #5 in its list of 100 Most Promising Companies in America. Michael has been instrumental in raising capital from high profile private equity firms including Sequoia Capital, arguably the most revered venture capital firm in recent history due to its investments in Apple, Atari, Oracle, Cisco, Yahoo, Paypal, Google and others, who invested in IPG in early 2010. Michael’s background prior to IPG includes an early career in the financial services industry in corporate finance. He then segued into healthcare in the mid 90’s pursuing two other ventures. Justice News. ATLANTA – Federal agents have arrested twenty-four individuals for their involvement in a large-scale fraud and money laundering operation that targeted citizens, corporations, and financial institutions throughout the United States. Business email compromise schemes, romance fraud scams, and retirement account scams, among other frauds, duped numerous victims into losing more than $30 million. “Fraud schemes, like the ones perpetrated and facilitated by these defendants, inflict considerable losses on citizens, companies, and the financial system,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “Some of these schemes target the elderly and often deplete the victims’ entire life savings. These arrests affirm the Department of Justice’s commitment to prosecuting those who prey on our most vulnerable citizens.” “The FBI would like to thank our numerous federal, state and local law enforcement partners who helped make these arrests possible,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “There is no way we can make the victims of these schemes, many who have lost their life savings, whole again. Hopefully the arrests and pending prosecutions will at least give them solace that someone is being held accountable for their losses.” “An important mission of the Office of Inspector General is to investigate allegations of fraud relating to employee benefit plans. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate these types of allegations,” stated Rafiq Ahmad, Special Agent-in-Charge, Atlanta Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. “This investigation and subsequent arrests is due to the level of cooperation and information sharing by all law enforcement partners involved,” said Steven R. Baisel, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, Atlanta Field Office. “The Secret Service will continue to collaborate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our partners to safeguard the nation’s critical financial infrastructure and the people in our communities.” “No one deserves to have their hard-earned money stolen from them, so identifying and arresting these defendants makes everyone in the community safer,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) operations in Georgia and Alabama. “Foreign nationals arrested in this scheme will be placed into removal proceedings upon completion of their criminal sentence.” According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the indictment, and other information presented in court: The defendants served as money launderers for other individuals throughout the world who conducted cyber-enabled fraud, including business email compromise schemes, romance scams, and retirement account scams, targeted at companies and individuals across the United States. A “business email compromise” (BEC) is a type of computer intrusion that occurs when an employee of a company is tricked into interacting with an email message that appears to be, but is not, legitimate. The fraudulent email instructs the victim to wire money to a bank account controlled by conspirators. A “romance scam” is a type of online fraud that occurs when an individual user of an internet dating website is targeted for fraud by an imposter posing as a potential paramour. The scammer creates a fake online dating profile that depicts photographs of an attractive man or woman alongside descriptions of the fictitious person. The scammer then uses this fake person to express romantic interest in the victim in order to trick him or her into sending money to the scammer. The scammer frequently targets vulnerable individuals who possess significant financial assets, such as retired widows or widowers. A “retirement account scam” is a type of online fraud that occurs when a third party administrator (TPA) for retirement investment accounts is tricked into authorizing a money distribution to an imposter posing as the true accountholder. The imposter often starts the scam by calling the TPA, identifying himself or herself as an actual accountholder, and requesting a withdrawal distribution form. Once the imposter receives the withdrawal distribution form, the imposter returns the completed form to the TPA. The form is completed with the accountholder’s real personal identifying information (PII)—often stolen via BEC schemes, data breaches, and other hacking offenses—and bank account information for an account controlled by the imposter or the imposter’s conspirators. After the TPA processes the fraudulent request, the request is forwarded to the investment firm responsible for managing the accountholder’s investments, and the funds—often the accountholder’s life savings—are then directed to the imposter’s designated bank account. The defendants and co-conspirators facilitated BEC schemes, romance scams, and retirement account scams by receiving and distributing fraudulent funds throughout the United States and the world. Over the course of the conspiracy, the defendants and their co-conspirators laundered over $30 million in fraud proceeds. The defendants created multiple sham companies that did not have physical premises, earn legitimate income, or pay wages to employees. In turn, the defendants opened business bank accounts at multiple financial institutions to facilitate receipt of the fraudulent money. The defendants also opened personal bank accounts to receive fraudulent funds, often using false identities and victims’ identities. After funds were deposited into the defendants’ bank accounts, the money was quickly withdrawn from the accounts and circulated among the defendants. Darius Sowah Okang, a/k/a Michael J. Casey, a/k/a Richard Resser, a/k/a Thomas Vaden, a/k/a Michael Lawson, a/k/a Matthew Reddington, a/k/a Michael Little, 29, of Stone Mountain, Georgia; Dominique Raquel Golden, a/k/a Desire Tamakloe, a/k/a Mellissa Moore, a/k/a Nicole Nolay, a/k/a Raquel Roberts, a/k/a Maria Henderson, a/k/a Raquel Golden, 29, of Houston, Texas; Blessing Oluwatimilehin Ojo, a/k/a “Timmy,” 34, of Nigeria; George Kodjo Edem Adatsi, 36, of Atlanta, Georgia; Desire Elorm Tamakloe, a/k/a “Chubby,” 25, of Smyrna, Georgia; Solomon Agyapong, a/k/a “Gumpe,” 31, of Marietta, Georgia; Afeez Olaide Adeniran, a/k/a “Ola,” 31, of Atlanta, Georgia; Francesco Benjamin, a/k/a “B-More,” 30, of Atlanta, Georgia; Jonathan Kojo Agbemafle, a/k/a “Skinny,” 26, of Kansas City, Missouri; Joshua Roberts, a/k/a “Onyx,” 28, of Houston, Texas; Hamza Abdallah, a/k/a Reggie Lewis, 30, of McDonough, Georgia; Prince Sheriff Okai, 26, of Mableton, Georgia; Kelvin Prince Boateng, 24, of Atlanta, Georgia; Monique Wheeler, 29, of Atlanta, Georgia; Matthan Bolaji Ibidapo, a/k/a “B.J.,” 27, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Stephen Abbu Jenkins, a/k/a “Face,” a/k/a Steven Abbu Jenkins, Steven Jenkins, Steve Jenkins, 53, of Atlanta, Georgia; Kahlia Andrea Siddiqui, 28, of Chamblee, Georgia; Alexus Ciera Johnson, 26, of Mableton, Georgia; Abubakar Sadik Ibrahim, 26, of Mableton, Georgia; Emanuela Joe Joseph, 34, of Lawrenceville, Georgia; Obinna Nwosu, 26, of Douglasville, Georgia; Ojebe Obewu Ojebe, 27, of Atlanta, Georgia; and Gregory Thomas Hudson, 38, of Powder Springs, Georgia. Darius Sowah Okang is also charged with one count of bank fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. The indictment alleges that Okang created a bank account in a retirement scam victim’s name, which was then used to deposit approximately $288,000 in funds fraudulently withdrawn from the victim’s retirement account. Afeez Olaide Adeniran and Blessing Ojo are also charged with wire fraud. The indictment alleges that Adeniran defrauded a homebuyer of $40,000 intended for a real estate transaction. The indictment alleges that due to a computer intrusion and false invoicing scam, Ojo caused a media company in California to send payments totaling $89,140 to a bank account controlled by one of the defendants. In total, the victim sent $646,840, as a result of the fraud. In addition, two related cases charging additional defendants with various counts of bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, and conspiracies to commit these offenses are currently pending in federal court in Atlanta. These defendants include: Benjamin Ibukunoluwa Oye, 26, of Sandy Springs, Georgia; Tyler Keon Roussell, 25, of Atlanta, Georgia; Christopher Akinwande Awonuga, 27, of Fayetteville, Georgia; Casey Broderick Williams, 26, of Covington, Georgia; Macario Lee Nelson, a/k/a “Mac,” 24, of Atlanta, Georgia; Chadrick Jamal Rhodes, 28, of Atlanta, Georgia; Chadwick Osbourne Stewart, 40, of Atlanta, Georgia; Oumar Bouyo Mbodj, 28, of Kennesaw, Georgia; Seth Appiah Kubi, 60, of Dacula, Georgia; Ahamefule Aso Odus, 27, of Atlanta, Georgia; Paul Chinonso Anyanwu, 27, of Hampton, Georgia; Egale Veonzell Woods, Jr., 41, of East Point, Georgia; Chineda Obilom Nwakadu, 25, of McDonough, Georgia; Chukwukadibia Ikechukwu Nnadozie, a/k/a “Chuka,” a/k/a Michael McCord, 27, of Fayetteville, Georgia; Uchechi Chidimma Odus, a/k/a “Uche,” 23, of Atlanta, Georgia; John Ifeoluwa Onimole, 27, of Powder Springs, Georgia; and Oluwafunmilade Onamuti, a/k/a Mathew Kelvin, 26, of Duluth, Georgia. Members of the public are reminded that the indictments only contain charges. The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove each defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Secret Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations are investigating this case. The investigating agencies received considerable support from numerous federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities, to include: Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the State of Georgia, Office of Inspector General. Also the Atlanta Police Department, Smyrna Police Department, Henry County Police Department, Gwinnett County Police Department, DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, Chamblee Police Department, Dunwoody Police Department, Cobb County Police Department, McDonough Police Department, Carrollton Police Department, and the Sandy Springs Police Department, all in Georgia. Additional agencies are the New York City Police Department; Houston Police Department; Kent and Bellevue Police Departments in Washington; Newport Beach Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, San Francisco Police Department, and Upland Police Departments in California; Radnor Township Pennsylvania Police Department; York County South Carolina Sheriff’s Department; Bloomington Indiana Police Department; Arlington County Virginia Police Department; Wells Maine Police Department; Schaumburg Illinois Police Department; Salt Lake City Utah Unified Police District; and the Charlotte County Florida Sheriff’s Office. This investigation is being conducted under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program—the keystone drug, money laundering, and transnational organized crime enforcement program of the Department of Justice. SilverSingles The Exclusive Dating Site for 50+ Singles. Matchmaking That Works. Exclusive 50+ Community. 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He is still in my heart,” she told HuffPost. “I guess somehow everyone is looking for great love.” We also talked with members of a cottage industry that has sprung up to support the defrauded: operators of scam-watch websites, counselors for fraud victims and people who self-identify as scam-baiters trying to trap the criminals so the latter can be arrested. And we spoke to FBI investigators, academics and researchers who study cyberfraud. FBI Special Agent Christine Beining tells the story of a Texas woman defrauded by a scammer who called himself “Charlie.” The woman, a devout Christian, has since contemplated suicide, Beining said. Like Warnack, she still struggles emotionally to accept what happened. “Even though she knows Charlie doesn’t [really] exist, there are times when she thinks the two men we arrested acted alone,” Beining said. The two men in Nigeria pleaded guilty for their roles in scamming the Texas woman in July 2016 and were sentenced to three years in prison. But she didn’t get her money back. She had openly discussed her faith on her Facebook profile ― something that gave Charlie a hook when he sought her friendship online in 2014. Their relationship progressed quickly and soon they were praying together ― online, of course. The woman, who’s in her late 50s, said in an audiotape provided by the FBI (listen below) that she was in an “emotionally abusive marriage, and things had not been good for probably at least 10 years.” She was looking for happiness and thought she had found it with Charlie. When he first asked for money to help finish a construction job, she said, “I prayed about it. I’ve always been a very giving person, and I figured if I had money … I could send him some.” That’s how she came to lose the first $30,000. Over the next two years, she sent more money in response to each new story he told her, she said, because, after all, they were in love. Eventually, the woman’s financial adviser became alarmed about her steadily dwindling accounts and, suspecting fraud, urged her to contact the FBI. By that point, she had sent $2 million to a man she never met. The Most Likely Victims. Using fake profiles on online dating sites and social networks, including Facebook, scammers troll for the lonely and the vulnerable. They promise love and marriage and build what feels like a very real relationship to the victim. Someone who has fallen for a scam before is a favored mark. Once victims send money, scammers put their n ames on a “sucker list,” Special Agent Beining said. Those names and identities are often sold to other criminals. A Federal Trade Commission study published in 2013 found another telling commonality among all kinds of fraud victims: People who had experienced a negative life event in the previous 24 months ― lost a spouse, divorced, separated or lost a job ― were twice as likely to become the victim of a scam. In her 2008 book, Truth, Lies and Trust on the Internet, psychologist Monica Whitty explained that computer-mediated relationships “ can be ‘hyperpersonal’ — more strong and intimate than physical relationships.” Participants can control how they present themselves, creating “idealized avatars” that elicit more trust and intimacy than their real-life, face-to-face selves. “What happens is, you can see the written text and read it over and over again, and that makes it stronger,” wrote Whitty, who focuses on how cyber technologies affect human beings and now works at the University of Warwick in England. Law enforcement officials say that victims are often embarrassed to let friends or family know they’re sending money to an online stranger. And should they wise up, they may be threatened and blackmailed by their faux lovers. As insurance that their victims will toe the line, scammers may gather compromising information ― commonly, videos of the victims masturbating at their request. The scammer may even admit the crime to the victim, but then swear he has actually fallen in love with her. Those who believe the excuses and stay involved may enter into a new level of danger as the scammer begins to groom them to launder stolen money, deliver drugs or scam others. They may also threaten to release those “sex tapes” to gain their victims’ cooperation. More than one woman has wound up charged with crimes. Victims live around the globe. HuffPost spoke to women in Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Kenya, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States who had been scammed. Ruth Grover, who lives in northeast England, runs ScamHaters, a website that posts warnings about online profiles that appear to be scammers. She said that currently women in the Philippines seem to be prime targets, although she doesn’t know why. Many victims there and elsewhere are not wealthy and must borrow the money they send to the scammers. The Most Likely Scammers. Currently, the vast majority of online romance scams aimed at the U.S. originate in Ghana and Nigeria, Beining said, although they’re increasingly coming from within West African expatriate communities in Malaysia, Canada and Britain. In fast-developing parts of the world with high unemployment and postcolonial legacies of political instability and corruption, young men and women may turn to “ the 419 game,” a common term for fraud that refers to the Nigerian criminal code. Nigerian scammers are dubbed “ Yahoo boys ” because of their onetime fondness for using Yahoo email accounts (many have now switched to Gmail). In Ghana, they’re known as Sakawa Boys, “sakawa” being a Ghanaian term for internet fraud. While Nigerian scams targeting an international audience in particular predate the internet, as The Guardian reported in January, the advent of social networks and email has broadened the potential victim list and changed the game. These scammers are not just young people set on a career criminal path. Some are students ― one 2006 study suggested as many as 80 percent ― looking for cash. “Many undergraduates in Nigerian universities have embraced internet fraud as a way of life,” wrote researchers Oludayo Tade and Ibrahim Aliyu of Nigeria’s University of Ibadan. Poverty is certainly a factor; almost half of the 10 million graduates from more than 668 African universities each year can’t find a job. What’s more, cybercrime can carry a certain cachet in West Africa, according to a research report by Interpol and TrendMicro ― especially when the victims are foreigners. The image of the successful scammer ― who owns expensive cars and multiple houses, sports flashy jewelry and earns the admiration of younger wannabes ― has been etched into Nigerian culture by popular songs and YouTube videos. In his 2007 song “Yahooze,” Nigerian singer Olu Maintain appears to glorify the Yahoo boys’ lavish lifestyle ― although he has denied that was his intent. The video shows luxury cars bearing license plates for each day of the week, beautiful women and expensive liquor on tap, and dollars carelessly tossed on the floor like confetti. That image is light-years away from the typical standard of living in Nigeria, where the average annual salary is about $3,600 ― roughly $10 a day. Many of the early online scams were run out of pay-per-hour internet cafes, some of which would even shut down to the public while the larger scamming operations took over. With better and cheaper internet connections these days, scammers can often work from home. Many of these cybercriminals believe the use of “spiritual elements” in conjunction with their internet surfing will increase their chances of success, a 2013 research paper that looked at Nigerian cybercrime explained. They cast a Vodun spell, which is akin to voodoo, to essentially hypnotize their victims into giving up the money. In some cases, this means wearing a “charmed ring” on the right index finger ― the one that hits the enter key to send messages ― and licking a “black powdery substance mixed with honey” before speaking to “ maga” (fools) on the phone, according to The Guardian, a Nigerian newspaper, and a 2011 research paper on Ghanian media depictions of occult rituals involved in cyberfraud. Whatever the power Vodun actually exercises, virtually every expert who spoke to HuffPost for this story noted that many victims seem to fall under the scammer’s spell. When the scam is over, the victims still can’t believe the romance wasn’t real. Doug Shadel, head of AARP’s fraud watch team and state director of AARP Washington, said the scammers seek to get the victim “under the ether,” so that “the thinking part of their brain just goes numb.” He interviewed a woman scammed out of more than $300,000, who described the experience like this: “I felt like something ― a power outside my control ― took over my body.” How victims respond after learning that they’ve been scammed ― when they continue to desire the men who they understand are not actually real ― is “certainly not rational,” Shadel told HuffPost. “But then again, the whole transaction is pretty irrational when you think about it.” How The Scam Unfolds. While the scam story lines vary in detail, they all tend to follow the same trajectory : The victim is identified; a close relationship is rapidly established online; a small amount of money is asked for ― perhaps for a child’s birthday gift ― to test the victim’s readiness; a crisis occurs and a larger amount of money is sought with the promise of it being returned quickly; a series of additional “bleeds” occur until the scammer is exposed or the victim can’t get any more money. Scammers often work in teams of five or six, with each member playing a specific role, according to experts who study and prosecute online fraud. One person opens communication as the faux lover. Teammates sometimes impersonate a doctor or a nurse demanding to be paid after a medical emergency. Or they pose as work associates or friends of the paramour, to whom the victim can send the money. Young women pretend to be teenage daughters, eager to call the victim “Mom.” If the victim gets suspicious, an accomplice may reach out pretending to be a private investigator offering to track down the scammer for a fee. The criminals can download their scripts off plenty of online sites. Last year, a 55-year-old British woman was sentenced to two years in prison for being a scriptwriter for romance scammers. One script she wrote tried to capitalize on an American tragedy. The scammer was supposed to say: “I am a widow. Lost my husband to 9/11 terror attacks in New York. He made it out of the collapsed building but he later died because of heavy dust and smoke and he was asthmatic.” Even with a script, there can be warning signs for the victims. Sometimes, the scammer may “forget” what was discussed previously or call the victim by a different name. Most scammers go with the generic “honey” or “babe” to avoid the latter mistake. When the victim seeks a face-to-face meeting, the script offers creative ways for scammers to say no or to cancel later. Some claim they’re working overseas or on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, where internet and cell phone service is spotty so they can’t stay in contact as frequently as they would like. These Men Are Collateral Damage. To build their false identities, scammers steal a real person’s photos from dating sites, Facebook or even old MySpace accounts. Sometimes thousands of phony online identities are created from one set of stolen photos. The person whose pictures are taken has no idea anything is amiss until victims start to contact them hoping to get their money back or continue the “romance.” Member of the military are big targets because women gravitate to photos of strong men willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Soldiers represent protection, another appealing trait. Plus, being “deployed overseas” provides scammers with a great cover for erratic communications and no face-to-face meetings. The Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) receives hundreds of complaints a month from victims who say they formed an online relationship with someone claiming to be a U.S. soldier. The fake soldier asked them for money to cover needed costs such as transportation, “communication fees,” marriage licenses and medical care. (There are no circumstances in which a member of the U.S. military would legitimately ask a civilian to pay for transportation, medical care or administrative fees.) “I get calls every week and it is very troubling to hear these stories over and over again of people who have sent thousands of dollars to someone they have never met and sometimes have never even spoken to on the phone,” said Army CID spokesman Chris Grey in a press release. When it comes to photo theft, rank offers no privileges. John F. Campbell was the top U.S. general in Afghanistan when his photos were stolen. Campbell, now retired, took to Facebook to warn people after he and his staff uncovered more than 700 fake profiles using his image in the first six months after he took over the U.S. military command in Kabul. He wrote : “I am happily married and my wife Ann is very much alive and my children do not need money for any medical procedures. I DO NOT use any dating sites, Skype, Google plus, Yahoo messenger or any other account.” Of course, men who are drawn into these scams come from many walks of life. In the case of Dr. Steve G. Jones, a clinical hypnotherapist based in New York, the scammers didn’t just use his photos; they began to pose as him. About three years ago, Jones began receiving emails from angry women “asking me why I had left them and what I did with the money,” he told HuffPost. He said he still receives “5 to 10 notifications a day” between Facebook messages and people emailing his customer service department. A good part of his life is spent dodging these heartbroken women, some of whom who think he personally ripped them off. “Most of the ladies are frantically attempting to ‘reconnect’ with ‘me,’” he said. One woman made an appointment for hypnosis with his New York office. She showed up with color printouts of his photos that she believed he had sent her. “I told her that she is just one of the many victims and she should contact the police, not me,” Jones said. That didn’t go over well with the woman, who insisted the two of them had a romantic relationship that she wanted to continue. She left upset, but still sent him a silver money clip from Tiffany engraved with the word “Dreamy” ― her nickname for the man she believed was him. When Jones posted on his real Facebook page that HuffPost wanted to speak with women who had been bilked by scammers using his name, more than 50 responded in less than 24 hours. About half indicated that they are still in love with “him.” One woman from Russia sent beseeching requests to HuffPost asking that we convince Jones to respond to her messages. Jones has created a Facebook group dedicated to those victims defrauded with his photos. He also posted this public service announcement on YouTube about how to avoid being scammed. The Facebook photos of Las Vegas resident Michael Besson were also stolen and used to create hundreds of fake profiles on Facebook and other sites. “This week I already have eight women who have contacted me, who fell in love with some version of me on Facebook. Trust me when I tell you, this is an insanely huge problem that Facebook is just not owning,” he told HuffPost. “[Scam victims] have a very weird after-effect experience where they still think they’re in love with you And yes, that’s after they realize you’re not the same person. It’s almost like it doesn’t even matter,” Besson said. He said his motive in speaking publicly was simple: “I hope my name is in the article somehow so Facebook feels the pressure to turn back on the facial recognition warning system that they have.” The social network giant has facial recognition software that could help identify fraudulent photo use. “They turned it on for me for about six months and during that time, every fake Facebook page that came up was caught within five minutes,” Besson said. And then, it was turned off ― he said he doesn’t know why. Scammers Play In Social Media. Dating sites appear to be aware of the role they play, however unintentionally, in romance fraud. It is standard for such sites to disclaim any responsibility for fake profiles that appear. An industry executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told HuffPost that some sites fight back surreptitiously. They block users who they suspect are scammers without telling them. They create a “simulated user experience” by letting the scammers think they’re messaging people who simply don’t respond. Any money paid is returned on the back end to the (presumably stolen) credit card. Whitty, the cyberpsychologist, had strong words for the online dating industry in her 2012 report about romance scams, calling on sites to post warnings and educate users about what to look for ― and not to be concerned about scaring users off. “Clients need to be made fully aware of this scam before they start using online dating sites,” she said. “We learnt. that being scammed did not stop victims from wanting to use online dating sites, but they did stop using the one they were scammed on Victims need to be told: If the person is not willing to meet them in the first month, move on to find someone who will!” Some sites do a better job of actively monitoring for fraudulent activity. Zoosk, a dating app with 40 million online profiles and members in 80 countries, lets users make a video of their face with the app that a human moderator will then view and match up with the submitted photos. But scammers can still hide among the majority of members who don’t use that option ― just 7 million to date have made the effort. “They want a breezy experience,” Zoosk spokesman Daniel Mori said. “They want to meet people and to date fast.” The challenge, he said, is to keep the “ecosystem as clean as possible without asking customers to work too hard.” Facebook, the largest social network by magnitudes, is also a playground for scammers. Many scam victims told HuffPost that they feel Facebook is not sufficiently proactive when it comes to weeding out and blocking the fraudsters. Facebook spokesman Pete Voss said the site “recognize[s] the risk of malicious actors seeking to mislead people, and for our part, we are taking a multifaceted approach to help mitigate these risks.” The company has a “combination of automated and manual systems to block accounts used for fraudulent purposes, and we are constantly improving these systems to help us better identify suspicious behavior,” Voss added. “Our security systems run in the background millions of times per second to help catch threats and remove them, and we prevent large numbers of account compromises every day.” Facebook declined to give any details about its risk mitigation systems or say how many compromised accounts are caught. The site asks users to report posts or messages that ask them to inappropriately share personal information or send money. Voss declined to discuss how many reports it receives. The issue of what responsibility social networks, including Facebook, bear for enabling scammers is one that troubles many victims. Grover, of ScamHaters, thinks that Facebook could be more cooperative in policing its site. She said that the social giant sometimes shuts down victim advocacy pages ― which often post photos of alleged scammers ― yet leaves up pages for financial middlemen even when they are “happily peddling crime.” Facebook declined to respond to questions regarding its general criteria for removing pages or why it has taken down some specific sites, but individuals do appear to be using the site to facilitate financial scams. HuffPost found this public Facebook group ― where people appear to be trafficking in credit card and bank account numbers ― on June 7. It had grown to almost 1,000 members over the course of several hours. When it was reported, Facebook took it down. But as soon as one page is removed, another seems to replace it. HuffPost also found this page called Yahoo Boys, which Facebook has since removed. Fraud expert and educator William Kresse said he was “99.99 percent sure that the guy here is advertising himself as dealing in stolen personal financial information.” Financial journalist Rodney Hobson, author of The Book of Scams, concurred. It “looks pretty blatant to me and if the site was removed after a short time, that is a classic sign,” he told HuffPost. The criminal exchange of bank and credit card details usually takes place on the Dark Web, Hobson said, where the authorities won’t see. But, he noted, sometimes it is done more openly. “Typically a website will last just a few minutes and then be taken down before the authorities can spot it,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if the fraudster fails to sell the details immediately because they can easily set up a new website and try again.” Hobson compared the internet to the “Wild West” and argued that “neither the police or the internet giants such as Google have committed the resources to tackle cybercrime.” HuffPost also found five active Facebook profiles using different names but displaying the same photos. Two of the five were taken down before we could screenshot them; here are the three that remained. Scam victim sites suggested that the man in the photo is actually a singer in the U.K. and that the images were surely stolen. Facebook declined to comment on the specifics of these screenshots. In the case of the top one, where WhatsApp account numbers are visible and appear to be used for the buying and selling of stolen financial data, Facebook ― which owns WhatsApp ― would not respond to questions about whether it turned this information over to police, removed the profiles of the posters, or even notified WhatsApp that some of its accounts may be being used in what appear to be illegal activities. When pressed for additional ways that Facebook proactively prevents the network from being used by scammers, Voss said, “We’re always looking for irregularities in how different pages and domains behave on Facebook. For example, when someone receives a friend request, our systems are designed to check whether the recipient already has a friend with the same name, along with a variety of other factors that help us determine if an interaction is legitimate. It’s an area we’re continually working to improve so that we can provide a safe and secure experience on Facebook.” The FBI said it does not comment on the policies and practices of private companies, and a Justice Department spokesman said that as a matter of policy, it would not publicly discuss prosecution strategies. Jones, the hypnotherapist whose photos are regularly lifted from Facebook, argues however that if the site really tried, it could quash the problem entirely. “It may be a case of ignorance,” he told HuffPost. “If Facebook really knew the devastation that is going on ― these ladies being scammed out of who knows how much money annually, globally ― I think they would have this fixed by tomorrow.” But Phil Tully, a senior data scientist for the social media and digital security group ZeroFox, said it’s impossible for a social media site to detect every scammer because both the tactics and scammers change so frequently. He thinks that the large sites have programs in place that thwart scams pre-emptively and thus reduce the risk to users. Still, ZeroFox conducted a study of money scams on Instagram last year and found that scams were being created at an estimated rate three times higher than the rate at which they were being taken down. Tech Helps The Wary Scammer. Once they’ve found their victims, scammers can take apps and other digital tools designed to shield the public’s privacy and security and use them as protection against being caught. Every digital device connected to the internet has an Internet Protocol address, a unique set of numbers that reveals, among other information, the country in which it is connected. Anyone can check an IP address, though some browser extensions will send an alert if someone is doing that. So savvy scammers use a virtual private network to hide their IP addresses. Scammers like to move their conversation with their victims off Facebook or online dating services and onto other messaging platforms where, unbeknownst to their victims, they can organize all their communications. According to ScamHaters’ Grover and law enforcement authorities, scammers prefer apps such as Viber, WhatsApp and Kik. Leaving Facebook as soon as possible also protects the scammer from the risk that their fake profile may be reported and taken down. If that happens, Grover said, the scammer may explain it away to the victim by saying he was hacked or his company’s “security department” forced him to take it down. “But if they still have all their victims on Kik, they haven’t lost them,” said Grover. Scammers never want to appear on camera in a live video chat, but will sometimes send a prerecorded video that shows what a loving dad they are or how handsome they look captaining their sailboat. (Obviously, these videos are stolen, too.) Sites like Manycam.com allow prerecorded videos to be played on live webcams. There are multiple YouTube videos on how to do it. And it adds one more layer of believability to the scam, said the FBI’s Beining. Virtual Cam Whores, a service that creates customizable video, can also add a layer of authenticity. A user can manipulate the on-camera avatar so that the image on the other person’s screen appears to be responding to what that person is saying. For example, if the victim asks for a kiss, the scammer can command the image on the screen to blow a kiss. Still, some would argue, how can so many people mistake what is a prerecorded video for a live webcam? The answer is as nontechnological as it gets: Victims must be willing to suspend disbelief. SilverSingles The Exclusive Dating Site for 50+ Singles. Matchmaking That Works. Exclusive 50+ Community. Safe and Secure. We've Got The Numbers. Online Dating with SilverSingles. Take Our Personality Test. Signing up with the SilverSingles dating site is easy - register with your email at the top of this page, take our personality test and start building your very own dating profile. When it comes to online dating sites, SilverSingles couldn't be simpler! Whether it be travel, cooking, sport - internet dating is all about telling a story about yourself. Then upload a photo of you looking your best and soon you’ll be ready to start chatting away. Whether you’re dating after a divorce or looking for over 60 dating - SilverSingles is one of the best online dating sites for romance, adventure and love. Exceptional Customer Service. Our customer care team is committed to supporting your search and ensuring a smooth, safe and stress-free online dating experience for all members. The team is on-hand for personal support should you ever need it and actively works to protect you against any improper conduct. Above all, we want to make sure the quality of your matches remains high. 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