Love and fraud (part 2)
When Billy came to me for consultation on what his possible options are to petition Aswan, I asked him about their love story as any lawyer would do. However, I noticed there are some red flags that alerted me that this could be some sort of a scam. First, Billy told me that while he has seen Aswan through photos she sent to him, he has not seen Aswan on live video in any of their chats. They just talk and chat but never on live video because Aswan claims that her phone has poor video reception. Also, every time he offers to visit her in Nigeria, Aswan always refuses to meet him personally in Nigeria as it is such a dangerous place for an American like him who could be easy target for extortion or kidnapping. There are also times that Aswan directed him to send her money or the packages through a friend and not directly to her due to some “security” reasons. Lastly, and this happened only very recently, Aswan asked him to send her $10,000 because she is in the hospital and needs to have emergency surgery. He asked if she could send him the hospital bill for that surgery, Aswan said that she could not provide him the invoice since she would just give it directly to the doctor. When he tried to wire the money to Aswan's friend, his bank refused to send it because it is suspecting some kind of potential criminal activity.
I told Billy that what I and the bank are seeing is a kind of fraud that frequently targets people like him who are rich, single, older men who seek out love and attention even if it entails giving away large sums of money to their supposed “fiancées.” Aswan's evasiveness to have a live video, extreme carefulness not to receive money directly, refusal to meet him in person, and not showing him an official hospital bill are all hallmarks of a potential fraud. I advised him to report his case to the police or to the FBI but as of this time, Billy seems to be in denial that he has been a victim of an elaborate fraudulent scheme. Love is truly blind, indeed.
I may be wrong to think that this is fraud and I sure hope that I am. But it is better to be wrong in this case based on an abundance of caution, than be sorry hundreds of thousands of dollars later on.
This column is not a substitute for professional legal advice obtained from a US-licensed immigration attorney. The information contained herein does not constitute a warranty or guarantee or legal advice regarding a reader’s specific immigration case. No attorney-client relationship is and shall be established with any reader.
For any questions, comments and observations, please contact Atty. Marco Tomakin at
- Latest
