A MUM-of-three has vowed never to use dating apps again after she was scammed out of £79,000 by a man she met on Tinder.
Christine appeared on American daytime talk show Dr Phil to talk about her experience, struggling to hold back tears as she recalled the situation.
"We met on the app and we were just talking and texting," she said.
"He always had some excuse for why we couldn't meet in person, why we couldn't FaceTime.
"I spoke with him on the phone but it was 99% texting back and forth.
"But the conversation was so engaging and he was asking questions, unlike anybody else had so I trusted him."
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He continued to build Christine's trust up until he asked for money for the first time.
"The first time he said he needed $500 (£400) for his daughters so I sent it to him on Paypal and he paid me back," she said.
"The next time it was something like $1,500 (£1,204) – I did it, he paid me back. I had no reason not to trust him."
He then went on to ask Christine, as he was working a job away, to deposit a cheque for £79,000 into her account.
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Have you been a victim of fraud?
Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime where you should report fraud if you have been scammed, defrauded or experienced cyber crime.
Action Fraud can also take fraud information reports from people who have been in a situation where fraud could have occurred but didn’t, for example, if they had received a letter or email asking for money in relation to a bogus lottery win, inheritance or other approach for money that is not genuine, but did not respond to the sender or send any money.
To contact Action Fraud call 0300 123 2040.
"I deposited the $85,000 and the bank immediately made $500 available to withdraw," she explained.
"Two business days later, the bank made the full $85,000 available in my account.
"So in my brain, I assumed that meant the cheque had cleared – the bank wouldn't make that much money available if it hadn't.
"So he asked me to wire $82,000 (£65,800) and said I could keep $3000 (£2,400) just for helping him out, so I did the wire transfer."
But four business days later, Christine was contacted by the bank and told that it was a fraudulent cheque and they never received the funds from the cheque issuer.
They also told her that not only is she liable for that money, they would be "confiscating every penny you have to your name".
"So imagine me, single mum of three little kids," she said, breaking down in tears.
"I couldn't buy groceries, I couldn't pay my mortgage, I couldn't pay our bills, like what was I supposed to do?
"I'm blessed because my family stepped into help but this whole time, this individual is telling me, 'There must be a mistake with the bank' or 'I'll talk to my boss, that must be the problem, I love you so much, we're going to work through this, don't worry about it'.
"But I'm in tears, I'm out every dime I have. It would have been a lot easier if he just took the money and ran.
"It's that whole next six weeks when he's still convincing me he loves me that really, really hurts."
Christine then did her best to move on from the soul-destroying situation.
But she then received another message from the man, who told her that his real name is William and he's part of an organised theft group targeting women on dating apps.
How to protect yourself from fraud
USE the following tips to protect yourself from fraudsters.
- Keep your social media accounts private – Think twice before you your share details – in particular your full date of birth, address and contacts details – all of this information can be useful to fraudsters.
- Deactivate and delete old social media profiles – Keep track of your digital footprint. If a profile was created 10 years ago, there may be personal information currently available for a fraudster to use that you’re are not aware of or you have forgotten about.
- Password protect your devices– Keep passwords complex by picking three random words, such as roverducklemon and add or split them with symbols, numbers and capitals.
- Install anti-virus software on your laptop and personal devices and keep it up to date – This will make it harder for fraudsters to access your data in the first place.
- Take care on public Wi-Fi– Fraudsters can hack or mimic them. If you’re using one, avoid accessing sensitive apps, such as mobile banking.
- Think about your offline information too – Always redirect your post when you move home and make sure your letter or mailbox is secure.
Host Dr Phil McGraw asked Christine why she thinks he would have done that, to which she replied: "As naive as it sounds, a part of me would like to believe it's because he really did love me and that he really did feel bad that he left my kids and I in this situation.
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"But I'm not dumb, I know that it's probably all a lie, but it's the emotional piece of it.
"It's like taking every dollar I have, that's one thing, but never being able to trust anybody again – that's why I can't do dating sites anymore."
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