Romeo con artists sweet-talk Asia's lonely hearts (Feature)

By Hazel Parry Nov 28, 2010, 3:02 GMT

Hong Kong - It seemed like a match made in heaven for Angeline, a single 52-year-old Filipino working in Hong Kong. He said his name was Markus, a widowed 55-year-old doctor living in London, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

They met on the social networking site tagged.com and within days were messaging each other constantly. He told her how he tragically lost his wife in a car accident leaving him to bring up his teenage daughter alone.

'God has brought us together, my angel,' he told her. 'I cannot wait to be with you. My Tiffany needs a mom like you.'

Angeline was hooked. She was just weeks away from a long-service payout which would net her 5,000 US dollars. 'I thought Markus was the real thing,' she said. 'But I learnt my lesson the hard way.'

The lesson is one being shared by thousands of lonely men and women. Markus was a romance scammer. He was unlikely to be British, probably not a doctor, and very definitely not looking for love.

On the contrary, he was most probably Nigerian, and living in Malaysia. His name was one of many aliases he used. The photo he posted was of a stranger stolen from the internet.

By the time Angeline learnt the truth, she was 1,000 US dollars poorer.

Markus claimed he was on his way to marry her in Hong Kong in September when she received a call from someone claiming to be a customs officer in Kuala Lumpur. She said Markus had been caught in transit with almost 125,000 US dollars' worth of British pounds.

'It is an offence in Malaysia to bring in that amount of cash. I was told they were holding him until I sent 3,000 US dollars.' Angeline transferred 1,000 US dollars to a Western Union account, and never heard from 'Markus' again.

It is a sad but increasingly common story. Internet dating advice sites are full of pages recounting stories of seemingly naive women and men who loved and then lost large sums.

Some follow similar patterns to Angeline's experience. In others, the 'scammer' pretends to send an extremely expensive gift to the victim, who is then asked to pay the courier charge or costs incurred clearing customs. Of course, the gift never arrives. In others, the scammer suddenly suffers an unexpected tragedy and needs cash.

All are variations of the Nigerian 419 scam which gets its name from the section of Nigeria law which outlaws it. The classic 419 involves a spam which promises wealth in return for help with something like an investment or unclaimed money in a will.

Respond and you will be asked to send an advance fee, a small sum compared to the money you will recoup, to help with taxes or transfer fees.

However, the dating scam differs in that it uses dating and social networking sites to haul in its victims, building up a relationship of trust with sweet-talk, declarations of love and promises of marriage.

According to www.datingmore.com, scammers come often from West African countries such as Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal as well as Nigeria. However, recent years has seen them shifting base to Malaysia after entering on student visas.

'There is a huge Nigerian cell operating out of Malaysia, targeting mostly Asian women. Please keep in mind: all these white engineers supposedly from the UK, but appearing in Malaysia, with awful spelling are in reality Nigerian scammers,' the site warns.

According to statistics released by police in Kuala Lumpur, the number of scams is on the rise. Between January 2009 and June this year, police received reports of 180 men and women being conned by romance scammers, involving a total of around 3.2 million US dollars.

However, the true figure is believed to be much higher as many go unreported. It also does not take into account the number of victims who live outside Malaysia, like Angeline.

Hong Kong with its high number of professional never-married women and huge population of female domestic helpers could be rich pickings.

Dolores Balladares, chairwoman of United Filipinos in Hong Kong, said domestic helpers were particularly vulnerable to online dating scams because poverty in their own countries drove them to seek better lives elsewhere.

'They don't want to return home. They have read stories about people who fell in love after meeting online. They are looking for that happy ending, but it is very rare.'

Angeline is philosophical about her experience. 'Sometimes we learn things the hard way. I know I'll never see the money again but I'm determined to make the best of my life. I still go on dating sites, but I'm much more careful these days.'

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