[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. 1751001401900. i feel completely stupid and it's unbelievable what you end up doing in that situation with one of the most victims never see their money again and many perpetrators never get caught . but marie managed to do something, few 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 in the nigerian capital, a boucher offensive. i'm really nervous because i'm about to look him in the eyes. the oaks on reading

the, [000:00:00;00] the, the maurice ordeal began in 2018 with a short message. i'm telling you might have been have i said my instagram account to public, to reach more people for my business and we stayed home until yeah, i heard on clips the type a short 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 the cnn check and zip code. as of this one is s,

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 is him with his son. the what at this point got more personal and pretty quickly he told me his backstory just said he was divorced and caring for his children, seeking us. so is there someone 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. 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 apparently. 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. oh, i thought, 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 this touch base on ken sign, creditor on my end because of what 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 saying why don't then 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 they see the because it's the see team today. the judge is in the conference and all the cases split that for the to the uh being that judge did

x to give you those dates in november. so you would 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 talk 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? 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 courthouse and wanted to know which room i was in the garden invoices. this information called me from cisco. i to outside to come keys on his way. i'm nervous of my hearts pounding and half closed, 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. 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 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 of being or white ring. she told them about her experience is fine. i'm to begin with, i might have been emotionally dependent about me then it turned into something more like being a prisoner. i want it to get out, but i couldn't have, i was, i was confident. yeah. i so, and you see somebody can see here one things for certain, you'll know to blame in the slightest the 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 who spend everything else you saw hitting it, screeches issued into cuz they chum, you, they make you feel secure. is this a will do free speech? you're going to be false. give one to thing. 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 thought. this book you knew what he was doing. i'm just not the actual cause. this understanding was he groomed you quoted me rep. if i felt paralyzed you. everything hurt to be a good time explicitly. smith with the beast. and you've been through so much. sorry. no, no, since including no need to apologize on the help i have such respect for what you've decided to do. 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,

these people, 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. 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 i thought it wasn't what i would have expected. then the police couldn't have offered to help me then and there 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 feel that title on me fucked. is that i can tell you that different complaint is made in this matter. we will investigate taking no not what's in. that 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? do good, is it to them in terms of at life? why can't the police do it? is this is getting as soon as it becomes of us another country, it gets very difficult time 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 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 up and draw strength in content and image all cost shots and quinta, i've lit a candle because i prayed for protection for the trip to nigeria. my yeah, so it's a bit and also to give thanks that 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 that 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 taking this phone call. and that shows that step when they have a serious with mixing pascal too bad for me. i wrote that i'm here, but he hasn't responded to me so. okay, well thank you. thank you. no problem. thank you. no. oh,

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, it's money. my biggest hope is that we can agree that he'll give me my money back as soon as possible. excuse me. i didn't just sort of get the 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. he 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 know. he was like a dog with its tail between its legs, requesting to put to the bottom. i do actually think he showed remorse to customer a good time. 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 been a small painting, allows me to get away from my problems and find peace and so long on a commitment i've a whole total with the kids. i'm trying a picture where there's

a landscape emerging from the fog. not until often need to have 4 homes. that's only that's how you feel when you're being scammed. you enveloped in this fog? tightened down on discomfort and i'm beginning to emerge from it. i definitely need the plaza on it. so minutes often be costing me. as the ordeal went on, marie began to see things more clearly or as this feature is done 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 was in hospital for an operation. he sent this picture big equipment and it happened this class, the house, and i called and emailed the hospital. when do you hear me out?

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 and then 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 about on i condition. 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. and essentially 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 front of the for me, it's new. it'll be a real cool. and delta state denied area that has the it's in the near for a place called mccarthy. 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 weekend. 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 that in about and also show me places where there are scammers. but 1st marie and solemn and decide to visit a ju ju,

please contact. one of his friends got in touch it and threatened me, call it on routed. you told me that if i didn't pay this thing of the priest would curse me and my family to mount, who though my name from the number of the can get really upset me as my teeth coughing. i was scared laurise decided to find out for herself what's behind the practice the the. 6 the 1st the do, do priest demonstrates his supernatural powers that we often do well as devise the the most would have to proof as power. they stem 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, because i've been here by biased committee. physics must be physically, it's not magic, just physics. i know civic you know, well, what would you like to do? kill him. what do you want to do for you know, 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. how do you love? how do you do rituals? are common in nigeria, this significant kind of stuff? did you please come on? the power not. it goes from the price of the priest. this is my desperate power fund to be comfortable in the name of the business. is it papa? i have your business and i want you to help me to pray for this business associates and other people. it seems that the man who cheated marie out of her money also has

his own due to 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 it, on the feeder i felt before has subsided. thank you very much. now, yes, and ask response of the that's all, but let's see if the magic works to send it via the, the focus victims. the fed on them front or maybe on sunday when i'm in the plane. so i'll check my bank account and see that the money's arrive during this 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, i'm going to be searching but i am in june tomorrow i went to the judge so they gave them the students name. am lucy tomorrow? 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 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 the day activities another that's key this year we. we also because it tells us the boys. it was the 9th dollars that we've, we've done it quite bumping for incleanse. so these boys looking for one they are trying to, so i get it in full and you'll be like from the streets and is going to the work. so in utah, so from the streets, so it goes out to administrative on to make something for myself. and the money comes from shirts. $64.00, what do 40 at the exist present at the the client doing that as well. okay. sounds good to me was in to my name is tom tongue. sound ok on how long. ok island. ok said she said ok. nice name and say ok. and that i will go

about the lack of moving to the use of saying that hi. hello. how you doing little beautiful highs of the going from the use because additional stuff from the use of fall speech us can see how even though you are from india, they will not respond to you. you know, they're not. my real name is thomas bell tires. do you know the words? she's it with you. i don't have to doing it sometimes. if you search for our house to some 1000 feet in loss. meanwhile marie is back in court in a boot. my week of the nice my heart is pounding. i just hope i can get through it because i have health the man hasn't yet been found guilty in court. which feel strange.

i just because i have to present all the evidence most valuable because there used to be sympathy and understanding processes and maybe also loves to another state because then 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 cut off, i guess 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 touch screen. so take your time the with the hearing about discharge, 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 and vice ended oh my i left 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 bab 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 she has 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 to been in my among the the

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