Many love scammers pretend to be French when conquering women’s hearts and later scamming their money. In this article you will learn more about the scam and the risks.
- Have you met a man on the Internet who claims to be from France?
- Has the contact developed intensively and now there is talk of love?
What feels so good may not be true at all, because there are more and more cases of African scammers pretending to be French in order to cheat women from all over the world out of their savings. You are then dealing with a love scammer from France who is in reality probably from the Ivory Coast, Togo or Benin.
You get to know a Frenchman via the Internet
The story usually starts quite harmlessly. The scammers search for potential victims online at a dating service, on dating apps or on social networks such as Instagram, Facebook, TicToc, Tinder or Twitter.
You get to know a nice Frenchman via a platform on the Internet or in social media or via dating apps. In the pictures, the man looks likeable and what he writes sounds so good.
The man flatters you and gives you many nice compliments. Actually, he tells you exactly what probably all women want to hear.
The contact evolves furiously and the man writes to you as “his wife” very often every day. After quite some time, it already feels like he is a permanent part of your life. It is true love in online dating. All the messages are simply beautiful and this leads to the fact that the victim does not become suspicious.
After a long period of writing – often around the clock – this creates an emotional dependence on the man for almost every woman. It’s a kind of online love affair – in the end, the woman is an almost will-less victim.
At some point you think about meeting your Frenchman. The man is excited and looks forward to seeing you. But he has to go to Africa first.
The man must travel to West Africa
At this point in the story, there can be many different reasons why he urgently needs to travel to West Africa. The most common reasons are:
- In the Ivory Coast, his father died some time ago and left a large inheritance there. He now has to take care of this so that it can finally be paid out. To do this, he has to go to the bank and to a notary.
- He is a businessman and runs a car import and export business. He has to do a big deal on the spot for the car export from Africa to Europe.
- As an international cocoa trader, he has to do a big deal on the ground in Africa.
This list can be continued. All stories have one thing in common: the stay in Africa is unavoidable and urgent.
As soon as the man is back from the African country, he wants to come to you immediately to finally embrace his new “wife” in his strong arms. The catch: Before that, the man absolutely needs money from the woman.
The destination can vary, but with this scam it is always a French-speaking country in Africa. In most cases it is:
- Ivory Coast (République de Côte d’Ivoire)
- Benin
- Togo
- Burkina Faso
- Congo (both existing countries)
- Guinea
- Mali
Sometimes a Romance Scammer also claims that he has to travel to Canada. Of course, problems arise there as well. He then has to pay fees or customs to the Canadian government and asks his victim for financial support.
Something happens on the ground in Africa
Once in Africa, he reports in good spirits and that everything is going his way. But then suddenly there are problems and unexpected adverse circumstances. These are different from case to case. We have summarized some typical stories that are told particularly frequently.
The settlement of the inheritance in the Ivory Coast
The alleged Frenchman Louis Bernard met a lady on the Internet. He was an estate agent, had lived in the UK for 2 years and therefore knew some English.
Then he suddenly had to go to the Ivory Coast to deal with inheritance matters of his father. The correspondence runs via WhatsApp, but it has not yet come to a phone call, because he is ashamed of his bad pronunciation.
Now he has a problem. His wallet was stolen from him in the Ivory Coast. But because he had to pay the bank charges for the account activation and cover the notary costs immediately, he urgently needed financial help. He asks the woman to transfer money to him.
He wants to pay back the money later. To inspire confidence, he sends the victim a French identity card. This looks genuine, but a later check by our private investigators proves it to be a fake.
The hospital stay in Abidjan
The self-employed businessman Noah Durand fell seriously ill during his business trip in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Now he has to pay the hospital costs in cash on the spot, otherwise he is not allowed to leave. If he didn’t do that, he would get a report and the police would want to arrest him otherwise. The costs would be due immediately. His son had hardly anything to eat and help was urgently needed.
The confiscated luggage
Lucas Martin, a Frenchman, travelled to Africa to purchase a work of art. He claimed to have registered with the French embassy in Abidjan for security purposes when he entered the country. The very next day, he called to tell the lady of his heart that something had gone wrong. All of his luggage had been confiscated, he says, and he needed $3,500 to hand it over to customs and leave the country.
He claims to have found shelter with a customs official, who has since made his account available to receive the money. He apparently knows no way out, speaks of suicide and urgently demands financial assistance because his bank card no longer works.
The French embassy in Abidjan had only advised him to follow what the local customs officials told him. To do this, he needs money quickly, which he naturally wants to pay back later, otherwise the police would arrest him.
The robbery in Abidjan
After Jules Moreaus has travelled to Abidjan with a lot of cash for the purchase of cars, he is robbed on the spot. Now he has to have money quickly because he has to pay customs. Otherwise he would not get his cars out of the country. He had most of the money sent to him by friends, but something is still missing.
Since his wallet, credit cards and passport were stolen during the alleged robbery, he must now have $2,000 immediately in order to have a new passport issued and to be able to buy some food.
The scammer always wants money
All these stories have one thing in common: In the end, the man, who is supposedly French, wants money from the woman who only knows him from the Internet. The scammer always builds his scam on trust. All names are interchangeable, the stories of the scammers usually similar. The scammers simply want to defraud people.
The victim is supposed to transfer the money to a bank account or transfer it in Bitcoins. Alternatively, the scammer’s demands ask for cash in Euros or dollars via
- Western Union
- RIA
- MoneyGram.
Often, the African scammers pretend to be French to the subsequent victim. This makes it easy for perpetrators because they have the same native language. Now and then, they pose as French-Canadians or Swiss. In both countries, there are parts of the country where French is the official language. In particular, in the Canadian province of Québec, it is the only official language.
The criminals prepare well for the fraud. They work with photos of other people stolen from the Internet, forge images of passports to give themselves a real-looking identity, and create documents that look official and credible. Romance scams often involve identity theft. Any woman can be targeted as a victim by romance scammers.
Never send money in connection with online dating
There are countless fake online profiles of romance scammers on dating sites and social media and other internet sites. That is why our advice always applies:
Never send money to a stranger from the Internet whom you have never met in person and only know from a dating site or social media page. And be sure to refrain from sending inappropriate photos to strangers. Also, please be careful with sensitive information or financial information about yourself.
Warning Signs of Dating Scams and Romance Scams
Typical warning signs for romance scams are:
- You can’t meet the man in person.
- There is hardly any interaction on his social media site.
- The man only gives evasive answers to specific questions.
- The whole thing is somehow too good to be true.
- He has to travel to Africa and needs money there urgently.
- He asks you for money for medical expenses, food, flight tickets or customs fees.
- He wants to transfer money to your bank account, which you should then forward (beware of money laundering)
There are countless more things that should cause red flags to appear before your eyes. As soon as you are supposed to transfer money or buy a gift card we an Amazon Gift Card, Steam Card, iTunes Card or Google Play Store Card something is wrong.
Countless victims of these scams have been deprived of their entire life savings in this manner by con artists.
We find out if he is a love scammer
Are you in contact with a man – sometimes it is a woman – who, according to his own statements, is French and whom you met on the Internet?
Before you fall into a trap and fall for a scammer, better secure yourself. Always remember that there are a lot of scammers on the Internet who are only out to deceive others.
This scam is called catfishing or romance scam – many a woman has fallen victim to love scamming after meeting a nice man on Facebook or Instagram. The police usually cannot help a victim anymore – the woman’s money is lost to the scam, the scammers unknown.
Get advice before you become a victim of the scammers
We are familiar with love scamming and have handled many cases from this segment. At the end of a check, we will provide you with comprehensive information about the man. This way you will know exactly where you stand and you will not run the risk of him tricking you and harming you emotionally and financially.
Our work is done very discreetly and in the end you have certainty. It costs some money, but the truth is worth every penny. Have you possibly been deceived by a scammer in an online relationship? We will find out for you, because we convict all love scammers. Send us all the data from the person you have. After that you will receive an offer.
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