A Guardia Civil investigation, entitled Loverboy has detected 13 cases of online 'amorous fraud;' i.e., professing love to swindle victims.

All of the accused are Nigerians, the majority of whom are residents in Spain, with connections to other countries such as Italy, the UK and Nigeria.

The investigation began in June, 2021, when one of the victims denounced what had happened to her to the Guardia Civil. The Nigerian gentleman had managed to get money out of her over a period of months.

The modus operandi in all of these cases was for the man to gain the victim’s trust only to later claim that he is in a situation of danger and dire need, thus convincing the target to make bank transfers, in some cases as much as 34,000 euros.

During the course of their investigations the police found nine more victims, all Spanish, residents of Huelva, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Oviedo and the País Vasco. In some cases the victims were in the process of being diddled out of their savings so the police advised them to stop the process and denounce the swindlers. There were also three other victims living outside Spain, in China, Poland and France.

This case of fraud is also known as False Virtual Boyfriend. They take advantage of the victims psychological vulnerability and invest their ‘earnings’ into crypto currency.

(News: Spain)