Brockville Police received a report yesterday from a person who engaged in conversation with a person they had met through a dating website. After exchanging messages on the dating site the scammer then asked for the complainant’s private email so they could have a “private conversation”. After exchanging a few emails the complainant went back to the dating website and found the person she was chatting with had removed their profile which the complainant found suspicious. The scammer continued the conversations saying they ran a home based business. When the complainant suggested the 2 meet in a public place the scammer always refused saying they had a business meeting. Eventually the scammer told the complainant they had to go away on a business trip to Ghana and would be in contact after arrival. After the arrival in Ghana, suddenly the scammer had a family emergency with their son and required money for surgery and asked the complainant to send money. The complainant, already suspicious then contact the police.
This scam is common in the area and has different variations of the same story. Meeting on a dating site and exchange personal information. The scammer will never agree to a personal face to face meeting, but may talk over Skype or Yahoo Messenger, and always has a business meeting as an excuse. The con artist will then claim to go away on a business trip and will claim an emergency that requires the victim to send money to get them home. DO NOT send money to someone you do not know and have never met in person.