the, the, [000:00:00;00] the, the, 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 ton 1751001401900 . i feel completely stupid and it's unbelievable what you end up doing in that situation. that's the one that port. 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 scammers, true identity as i'm, i'm fine. 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 in the nigerian capital a boot jack. 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. i'm telling you, i said my instagram account of public to reach more people for my business and we stayed home until yeah, i hear on 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? it's funny. i thought it was nice because he apologized for disturbing me. so we

started chatting the cnn check and flickered as of this about his as that was the 1st picture he sent me out of the junky, introduced himself as a business man who wanted to collaborate with me. now pretty much to this is, this is him with his son does look at this point. they've got my personal and pretty quickly. he told me his back story just said he was divorced and caring for his children, seeking us. so hopefully somebody cannot komatt didn't come 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 to 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, i bought an s, 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 this touch base 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, may, 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 saying, i'm done with this. 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 does it seem today the judge is in the conference and all the cases split the for the to the uh being that don't get extra is keeping

those dates in the vendor. 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. the ship to watch it, but 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? what are you at 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 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 the garden. i'm going to this an invasion, told me from certificate audit. i'll try to come. he's on his way. i'm nervous of my hearts pounding and have but the minutes ticked by and the man doesn't appear. that's not him. the more lies the psychological work fair is typical for him. if he gets in touch and promises something and then doesn't come through hello wow. you do you want to talk to me? yeah,

i want to see you. i want to let look into your eyes and bring your good. uh, also okay. 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 is fine. i'm to begin with. i might have been emotionally dependent of a means and it turned into something more like being a prisoner. i wanted to get out, but i couldn't have i was, i was 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 sweet tea issued into cuz they chum, you, they make you feel secure this, this, and we'll do 50. you're going to be false, get one. the thing has 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 had the actual cuz most viewed his understanding was he groomed you quoted me rep, if i felt paralyzed video, everything hurt to be a good time explicitly. smith with a piece, and you've been through so much bye like google. sorry. no. i've seen it including no need to apologize on the hope to have such respect for what you've decided to do . but i mean everyone has that coverage. the scam is, wouldn't stand a chance. can you do you have to pass on your knowledge to the general public. this,

this, the but i did 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 of does off and back then the police man couldn't do anything about my situation. he couldn't help me in, 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 i thought 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 or 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 the title on me. fucked. is that i can tell you that if a complaint is made in this matter, we will investigate vague. and now what's in fact doesn't answer the question of why the investigation was so incredibly slow. when i filed the complaint for that. and i couldn't understand it because i passed everything onto the police and all the fake documents, he sent me chat, transcripts, and so on. why does the victim have to do the detective work themselves? good, is it to them in terms of that, like why can't the police do it? is this is really as soon as it becomes about another country, it gets very difficult because you need law enforcement treaties when we're 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 him. i think it's the home, the light 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 shut some content. i've lit a candle because i prayed for protection for the trip to nigeria. my sorts at this and also to give thanks, but i made it through the last 5 years. miss baton, cuz i think that's the franchise. in nigeria, the court hearing has been postponed and marie doesn't know whether the man she met

online will show up for the arrange meetings. if she gets stood up again for a whole trip will have been in vain. does she think he'll still come? he might. but i'd say it's unlikely on the i have been calling the the lawyer to represent you. and i hope you could join us on the lawyer has been given me, excuse me, and he's no longer picking his phone call. and us use them when they have a serious we're mixing pascal too bad for me. i wrote that i'm here, but he hasn't responded 373. thank you. thank you. no problem. thank you. no. oh,

really. he bought your desk and it was a month 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 as many times my biggest hope is that we can agree that he'll give me my money back as soon as possible. excuse me, i give it to them. but this time the man does show up, together with his lawyer. both want their faces blurred on film, yet smiley face. indeed we thought 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 or to have becky looked at the floor. he looked away. he was subdued and quiet. i

assume 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 enough to do about it, 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 various still dealing with the emotional effects of what happened in 2018. it's been, it's been a small painting, allows me to get away from my problems and find peace in so long on a commitment i have a whole total with the kids. i'm trying a picture where there's a landscape emerging from the fog. often need to have 4 homes.

that's only that's how you feel when you're being scammed. you enveloped in this fog? type them discomfort and i'm beginning to emerge from it i bought from you neighbor plaza. on is often be costing me. as the ordeal went on, marie began to see things more clearly. as, as a speech, i always done him later when i knew he was a scammer, i asked for more and more photos on the slide 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 at all. i don't know. at some point, he wasn't hospital for an operation. he sent this picture, this equipment and it happened this class, the house i'm give me like called and emailed the hospital. when do you hear me out?

and they said they didn't know of any such patient, you know, kind of was let me know that was a gosh, punched in the 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 in your chart, i told you i have to pay the fee and you'll get your money back and you pay $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 and i can push and i, he was actually relieved that he no longer had to lie through it. and he sent 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 and the video he and his cousins, and some friends are walking by an elephant fountain, and the mind 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. and delta state. and i do area that has states in the near for a place called mccarthy beach, beach of the 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 isn't that 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 big and i'm here to get a sense of how it all works in the stuff in the industry to invest a hold on one. yeah. own, this is solomon says that he's going to help me stay safe and let him about. and also show me places where there are scammers. but 1st marine solomon decide to visit a ju ju priest. after the contact,

one of his friends got in touch it and threatens me all it on routed. he told me that if i didn't pay this thing of the priest would curse me and my family to now who though my name from the not the can get really upset me as my teeth get 12. hm. i was scared laurise decided to find out for herself what's behind the practice the the. 6 the 1st, the due to priest demonstrates his supernatural powers. they both left without them then well as devised mouth would have to proof as power they stuck to brooms together and lifted me up with them. did not,

even though you might expect them to come a part of course, i know the physics behind it with it cuz i've been hearing by all biased community physics must be physically, it's not magic, just physics. as i know, civic you know, well what would you like to do? kill him. what do you want to do for the last year? at least with 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 the if you love, how do you do rituals? are common in nigeria, the significant kind of stuff? did you please come on the power not because from the origin the price of the previous desk is like desperate power on the front of the comfortable in the name of the business. is it papa? i have your business and i wanted to help make a 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. is it on the feeder i felt before has subsided. thank you very much. now. yeah, it's genetic response of the has all. but let's see if the magic works to send advanced up the focus victims the fed dunham font, or maybe on sunday when i'm in the plane. some, i'll check my bank account and see that the money's arrived. 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 time tomorrow. i went to the gym today, gave them the students name is 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 better help her 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 a young man who wants 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 do the activities and all of that's good news is here we. we also call it tells us the boise was the 9th dollars that we've, we've done. it's quite a bumping for implants. so these boys are looking for when they are driving, so i get them from and you'll be like from the streets and he's going to the work. so in utah, so from the streets. so i goes out to administrative on clinic, somebody from s? yes. con sweatshirts. 64 of the deep 40 i think ceased to present that to you didn't want to decline. the thought i was okay. sounds good to me. it was in. okay . my name is tom tongue. yeah. ok. i'm hold on. ok. island. ok. she said ok, nice name and said to go level that i would go about the lack of moving to the use

of saying that hi. hello, how you doing? beautiful. how is that the going from the use? because there's all stuff on the use of fall speech us can 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. do you know the words she's it was yeah, i don't have to do in it's sometimes if you sort of have skills to 2000 feet and more. meanwhile, maria's back in court in a boot you when we get the nice my heart is pounding. i just hope i can get through it because i how the man hasn't yet been found guilty in court would feel strange. i just,

i just because i have to present all the evidence most valuable because there used to be sympathy and understanding processes and maybe also love to learn about status because i've listened but it's clear he's been lying to me the whole time i was looking scores and i gave him so many chances to tell the truth. he never did her best. the only little by little after i was able to prove i knew who he really was there ever cuz i trusted him and he took advantage of me. yeah. so the 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 time. take your time 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 in context is a week ago. i was still so scared to be here and i still felt trapped. the cut all the prejudices have a back rated. my jewelry is a really friendly country and i've met some great people or to ken and glad. i'm

glad that she has had the experience because i was nice to see that not everybody nigeria i'm really hopeful for the end of the case because i believe most, if not all i also did, you know, is that 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 am on the the

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