JOHNSTON COUNTY – A Johnston County resident fell victim to a romance scam and lost a large amount of money in the process after sending money to pay for a dead camel. The bizarre story began weeks earlier when the 29 year-old woman met a man on the Tinder dating app.
The victim said the man claimed to be a member of the US Air Force stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force base in Goldsboro. They communicated frequently over the internet but never met in person. One of the reasons the scammer stated he couldn’t make the short trip from Wayne to Johnston County to meet the woman was because he had just be deployed to the Republic of Serbia.
The imposter continued to communicate with the victim while claiming to be on a military mission in Serbia.
The scammer then emailed the Johnston County woman claiming to be in serious trouble. He claimed he had accidentally killed a camel while on duty and to avoid arrest he had to pay restitution to the camel’s owner.
Falling for the story, the woman wired $8,900 to the fraudster. Only later did she realize it was a scam and the person had set up a fake profile on the dating app.
Law enforcement authorities and the Federal Trade Commission urge consumers to never send money to strangers. Scammers often have an urgent need for cash, with stories about being stuck in foreign countries, being in an accident or hospital, travel expenses, or other stories to gain your sympathy. They avoid meeting in person and the relationship seems to move very fast. They also avoid answering a lot of personal questions but ask a lot of information about you. They also want to take the conversations off dating apps to other platforms to establish a direct connection with you. Always proceed with caution and never send them money for any reason.
This is why you don’t look for “love” on Tinder.
And I thought a camel was only worth around $2000.
Most would had wanted a picture of the camels foot before any money was sent.
Terry’s posted many comments on here, none better than this one.
Terrybarns that’s a good one. Keep posting.
The old dead camel scheme……….works every time
I know this story isn’t suppose to be funny but that cracked me up, KNS!!