south looks at a woman slight against a romance scab on time, and it keeps getting all the back of the shop the hour. with more instructional headlines. thank you for watching the the coming 0 sent excels 3 trans people. stories is not kind items that feed us complex doors sometimes from here sort of additional chip in search of the 3 generations lunch. any thoughts? july 7th on dw, this is marie,

a german woman who lost 130000 euros in an online romance scam. she's come to a court in nigeria seeking justice in 2018. marie fell in love online with a man using a fake identity. it was a typical romance scam, sometimes called cat fishing. fraudsters make victims believe they've found true love, then sheet them out of their money. now, these are all records of the transfers i made, which was i felt under enormous pressure 21751001401900. i feel completely stupid and it's unbelievable what you end up doing in that situation with one of the quote. most victims never see their money again and many perpetrators never get caught. but marie managed to do something do victims. can. she worked out her scamarus true identity and he was supposedly a business man with a good life from italy and the us on. when i exposed him,

i found out he was in nigeria. now maria's set to meet the man in person for the 1st time in court and then jerry and capital boucher offensive. i'm really nervous because i'm about to look him in the eyes. the oaks on reading the, the maurice ordeal began in 2018 with a short message. and i said my instagram account to public,

to reach more people for my business. and we stay home until yeah, i hear on a quick the type of show time later i got a message that said hello, beautiful hope i don't bother you. beautiful hope i don't both are you is fine. my thought it was nice because he apologized for disturbing me. so we started chatting this in and check and flickered. as of this, a lot of that was the 1st picture he sent me out of the junky, introduced himself as a business man who wanted to collaborate with me pretty much to this. is this the same with his son? the what at this point got my personal and pretty quickly he told me his back story . she said he was divorced and caring for his children, seeking us. so somebody cannot komatt, didn't come them or then this kind of picture came along to that. he quickly went into conquest mode, telling me i was beautiful, but he thought i was such a strong woman. of course i was flattered to begin with. i didn't want to

contemplate that it might not be real. poor marie was suffering from depression at the time, but didn't want to burden her family. the man saw his chance, had done all. he suggested trips to the bahamas and other places. i loved the idea of going to the states or having coffee with him by the spanish steps in rome. stuff like that. coffee to think no spanish and i fell and so i hit the marie gradually began to trust the man before long. they were chatting every day. then he asked her for money. i knew how all my alarm bells were ringing. i saw a truck. oh good. he wants money, a lot of us, but i was shocked with that because it wasn't like that. it didn't feel like it could actually be a scam. have to kind of for understood as a study on kevin sign,

credit to online because of the he was like know, how can you say that you should know me by now after that he goes to me and didn't get in touch, which made me worry. yeah. that's how he was able to manipulate me psychologically . marie asked for a copy of his passport as security. on the top, i didn't notice that it was fake. he promised to pay her back quickly. yeah, i thought okay, it's just 1200 euros. not that that's nothing, but it would just be a one time thing done. i need it. but things didn't stop there. back in nigeria, the court cases supposed to have begun the missing here. i'm just waiting here on my own. maurice lawyer is also wondering why

things aren't getting underway of what is happening. so i think is a be because it's does it seem today the judge is in the conference and all the cases slipped for the to the uh, being that judge did x to give you those dates in november. so you will have to write an application to the parts and then there'll be no hearing today, even though marie traveled all the way from germany. come on. wow. it's very different to germany, to watch. and nobody seems that upset or bothered about it trying to call kind of what else to do and what else is to come on. it seems marie, may have missed her chance to confront her online scammer. but then this happens

hey, how are you? well, i have the courthouse. well, i knew i want to see you come to me. whereabouts are you come to clot 12? 0 god i'm you don't. can you just called and asked where i was already been. and i asked him the same thing. he said he was in the court house and wanted to know which room i was in. good order. what is this information for me since just got it? i'll try to come. he's on his way. i'm nervous of my hearts pounding and have but the minutes check by and the man doesn't appear that's not him. the

more lies the psychological warfare is typical for him. maybe if he gets in touch and promises something and then doesn't come through. hello well i you do you want to talk to me? yeah, i want to see you. i want to look look into you guys. ok. i'm bring your lawyer. good. uh also okay. bye. okay. by the marine, the man agreed to meet in the evening together with their lawyers. they'll discuss an out of court settlement. but there's no knowing whether he'll actually show up the before leaving. for nigeria. marie met with cause cross from a german victim support organization called advice serving or white ring. she told

them about her experience spa, i'm to begin with. i might have been emotionally dependent of me then it turned into something more like being a prisoner. i wanted to get out, but i couldn't have, i was always confident. yeah. i. so i see somebody can see here one things for certain your not to blame in the slightest. yeah. we work on so many criminal cases . and we know that every perpetrator is specially trained when it comes to the way they talk to you and everything else is so hitting, a screeching issued insect. they chum, you, they make you feel secure. is this a will do free speech? you're going to be false. keep one to 3. have i had got to didn't. so he was there at the time when i needed help. when i wasn't doing well, he filled the void. i was feeling the oddities dog dispute. he knew what he was doing and just thought that will give us this understanding. was he groomed? you quoted me rep. if i felt paralyzed video, everything hurt to be

a good time explicitly. smith with the beast. and you've been through so much. i'm sorry. the 1st thing it's including no need to apologize on the hope to have such respect for what you've decided to do. i think everyone has that courage to scan is wouldn't stand a chance. can you do? you have to postpone your knowledge to the general public. this, this, the pride in my cfo marie 1st contacted the police at the end of 2018, but they didn't take her seriously. now she's decided to try again. hello, i'm officer cross. can i see it? yes, of course. at that point it says that the quantum, it does off and back then the police man couldn't do anything about my situation. he couldn't help me. and in fact, he made fun of me. that was a real slap in the face because i knew myself that i'd been stupid,

and i'd already been really critical of myself. and then to then hear the police say, you've been such a silly girl. as though it wasn't what i would have expected. then the police couldn't have offered to help me then in their filed a complaint and encouraged me to file one. no, i'm sorry. go to norman and michelle. if they'd acted properly back then, i'd probably have got out of the situation much sooner. and i wouldn't have lost so much money, and i do need to see that title on fucked is that i can tell you that if a complaint is made in this matter, we will investigate taking our law what's in fact as an answer, the question of why the investigation was so incredibly slow when i filed the complaint for that for me, i couldn't understand it because i passed everything onto the police, all the fake documents. he sent me chat, transcripts, and so on. why does the victim have to do the detective work themselves?

of the, the, the, the do that i'm in terms of that like, why can't the police do it? why is this is to get it as soon as it becomes about another country, it gets very difficult. so i might because you need law enforcement treaty ask women before working on that. but sadly, we're not yet to the point where we can call somebody nigeria and say, we have this case here. see what you can do with the mountain guns. does somebody like that you missed in the german state of the various police received more than 450 reports of online romance scams. in 2023 alone. all in. all scammers took around 5300000 years. the permission is cloud based on say it has always been a part of my life where i can lift myself. i've done drunk strength in content and image, all costs shots and quinta, i've lit a candle because i prayed for protection for the trip to nigeria. yeah for a bit and also to give thanks that i made it through the last 5 years. let me just

put that in cuz i think that's the phone guy. it will stay in nigeria, the court hearing has been postponed and marie doesn't know whether the man she met online will show up for their arrange meetings. if she gets stood up again for a whole trip will have been in vain. does she think he'll still come a community might, but i'd say it's unlikely findings on the i have been calling the the lawyer to represent you and i hope you could join us and a lawyer has been given me, excuse me, and he's no longer became his phone call and that shows that step when they have us

do this with mickey. pesky too bad for me. i wrote that i'm here, but he hasn't responded to me so sweet. okay, well, thank you. thank you. no problem. thank you know, really about to death. i'm expecting a tall man to walk in to be able to look him in the eyes and see that he is really lying. the police on flies, the money. my biggest hope is that we can agree that he'll give me my money back as soon as possible.

but this time, the man does show up, together with his lawyer. both want their faces blurred on film. yes, my interest is indeed it was a case of sitting opposite him and really giving him a piece of my mind miss. give all you could sense that he had done something bad. i would have said he looked at the floor. he looked away. he was subdued. and quiet nice. he used to shout at me when something didn't happen the way he wanted me to be forced to know. he was like a dog with its tail between its legs. because when i put to the bottom, i do actually think he showed remorse to customer a good type. but it's still not clear whether marie will ever see for 130000 euros again the, the re is still dealing with the emotional effects of what happened in 2018. it's

been been a small painting, allows me to get away from my problems and find peace things along on calling them and i've a whole total with other issues. and i'm trying a picture where there's a landscape emerging from the fog to monitor, often need to have for clones. that's the, that's how you feel when you're being scammed. you enveloped in this fog? tightened them on discomfort, and i'm beginning to emerge from it. i definitely need the plaza on is often be costing me. as the ordeal went on, marie began to see things more clearly as, as a speech, i already done him later when i knew he was a scammer. i asked for more and more photos on the flat and it started getting

ridiculous. wow, how doesn't. and so in this one, he just photoshop the head on top. it doesn't look really oh, i don't know. at some point, he was in hospital for an operation. he sent this picture, this equipment, and it happened this class and how i'm good. i called and emailed the hospital. when do you hear me often? and they said they didn't know of any such patient calls. let me know that was a got punched in a school district, but marie kept playing along with their scammer. she even gave him more money so as not to lose his trust. eventually she persuaded him to have a video call on that, and there was this guy looking at me and the result i told you, i have to pay the fee to get your money back and you pay one $1750.00 us dollars

tomorrow. and then you'll have it back soon. the man got increasingly careless. marie was on the verge of discovering his true identity or an item glitch. and i was actually relieved that he no longer had to lie to me. and he said me a whole lot of photos of himself, his family and friends, find some district on the end of them. he also sent a video you. in the video, he and his cousins and some friends are walking by an elephant fountain. an electronic component on mine is off. the fountain is quite distinctive. so i took a screenshot and use google image search to find it, published on the fun. for me, it's new, it'll be a real cool in delta state. and i jerry of that have states in the near for a place called mccarthy beach beach no

marie was able to expose the man and his network. she informs nigeria as financial crimes authority. the fcc justice. this is what the fcc posted after they arrested him, not in my in the back in nigeria. larisse quest isn't over yet. now we've come to been in city because it's a hot bed of fraud. you could, you couldn't even take workshops here to learn the best methods to scam people on, on this weekend. i'm here to get a sense of how it all works. stuff in, in the see to investor telemundo. yeah. this is solomon. who says that

he's going to help me stay safe and then about. and also show me places where there are scammers. but 1st marine solomon decide to visit a ju ju, please contact. one of his friends got in touch it and threatened me to call it on wooded. he told me that if i didn't pay this thing a little priest would curse me and my family to mount. who do my name for me for food? not the can get really upset me miss? yes, my tiskus coughing. i was scared laurise decided to find out for herself what's behind the practice. the the

1st the do, do priest demonstrates his supernatural powers day. let them think well as the device the mouth will have to proof as power and they stuff to brooms together and lifted me up with them. they're not, even though you might expect them to come a part. of course, i know the physics behind it with it because i've been hang, bye, bye, sweetie. physics must be physically. it's not magic, just physics. i'm fine. know, civic you know, well what would you like to do? kill him. what he wanted to do for the last year. at least we do. you want to be there. we don't want to. i don't want him to hot and you don't want to accommodate . you was how much ju ju rituals are common in nigeria. this significant

kind of stuff. did you please come on? the power that goes from the are the prices, the prices desk is like desperate power the front of the comfortable in the name of business. this is papa, i have his business and i wanted to have medical proof of his business associates and other people. it seems that the man who cheated marie out of her money also has his own ju ju priest. to break the spell, marie is told to cook some yam. the priest says that she'll get her money back in 3 days to an answer, so it looks nice. but it doesn't have much of an effect on me anymore because i'm the fever i felt before has subsided. thank you very much. now. yeah, i finance response of the hot tub. and let's see if the magic works to send advanced up the focus victims, defense unemployment,

or maybe on sunday when i'm in the plain, i'll check my bank account and see that the money's arrive to move. marie still wants to find out more about how the scammers operate, but she has to cut short her trip to been in city because there's surprising news from a bu jeff. all right. but i am in june, i'm tomorrow. i went to the judge today, gave me the students name and lucy. tomorrow's call. thank you bye. and it looks like the court hearing is happening after all. so marie is heading back to a budget the

but her helper solomon remains in been in city. he's made contact with a group of scammers. in nigeria, they're known as yahoo boys, a term for young man who want to make a quick buck online. their boss is willing to give an anonymous interview about his business. oh yeah, look into america. we just want to get information from you on the day activities. another that's good news is here we. we also called tulsa stuff because of my boys . it was the 9th dollars that we've, we've done, it's quite bumping for implants. so these boys, they're looking for when they are driving, so i get it in full and you'll be like from the streets and he's going to the work . so in utah, so from the streets. so it goes out to administrative on clinic,

somebody from s. yes. monique, on sweatshirts 604240 ethics just to present that to you didn't want to tell the client then that works okay. sounds good to me was in. okay. my name is tom tongue. yeah. ok. i'm hold on. okay. i want ok. she said ok. nice. name and said to go live ok that i would go about the lack of moving to the use of saying that hi. hello. how you doing? beautiful. how's your day going from day use? because there's all stuff on the use of false features. can you see how even though you are from india, they will not respond to you? you know, they were not married? name is thomas bell tires g. now the words, she's the only way i don't have to do. and it's sometimes if you sort of has 2000 feet in loss.

meanwhile, maria's back in court and a boot you when we get the nice my heart is pounding. i just hope i can get through it. this is iris house. the man hasn't yet been found guilty in court, which feels strange by just because i have to present all the evidence most valuable because there used to be sympathy and understanding processes and may be also in love to one another. so because our host, but it's clear he's been lying to me the whole time i was looking for. and i gave him so many chances to tell the truth. he never did. how did you get more? yes, the only little by little after i was able to prove i knew who he really was there ever because my trusted him and he took advantage of me. yeah. so it

was my dignity back before giving evidence in english marie talks to the prosecutor and her new lawyer, one more time. i'll do my best. it won't be good if i'm nervous and worked up and i can't concentrate on the touch the, with the hearing about the start, we have to take our cameras outside the later that afternoon. marie is relieved for statement and court went,

well this bottleneck, it was such a relief on this round because i was finally able to let go of everything invited and is on my list. last the added content is a week ago, i was still so scale to be here and i still felt trapped on the cut. all the prejudices have a back rated. my jewelry is a really friendly country and i've met some great people or they can. i'm glad i'm glad that you have had the experience because it's nice to see that not everybody nigeria i'm really hopeful for the end of the case because i believe most, if not all of you guys as decision coming here has definitely been worth it. little by little, i'm getting back to being the old me. the person i was before i was scammed, been in my, in my mail, the

enjoying the views and come to take a look at this. out to the highlights every week in your inbox, subscribe. now. january 2021. the attack on the united states capital just on an idea of what you said, we had power, we should have power. power is being taken away from us. and by any means necessary, we can get thousands of people to talk among them. some of these manipulative voices are former high ranking military leaders. why did us veterans

tended backs on democracy? and what does this mean for the upcoming next? the enemy within thought to lie 12 on the i imagine you log into your online banking one day and your account is completely drained, filled out by the likes of cyber criminals. identity theft is on the rise with really occasions where people like you and me, but how do these criminals operate? and how can we protect ourselves from attacks? one way scam as laura and the victims, by impersonating celebrities like 11 musk frosts, those have long tried capitalizing on the name of the u. s. entropy under more on that later. but just recently, a defect of even mosque was streamed over several hours on youtube drawing tens of thousands of you. busy take a look, you can directly deposit any amount of bitcoin and syrian or.