I exposed a romantic scammer. After a few hours he showed his face

It's about survival, he said.

Stock image.Stock image. (Source: Adobe Stock)

It started with an overly sweet message on Instagram. “Hello beautiful Mia, how are you? Your smile is like the morning light, clear as jasper, like the rarest gem mankind has yet to discover," a man with the handle Widein2021 wrote to me one weekday.

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In the picture, a dark-haired handsome man in a white T-shirt with southern features gazed at me. Another couple of pictures showed the same man - with dogs, on the beach, having a drink.

The introductory flirtatious message were in English, even though I immediately knew what was this about.

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For years, the media have focused on the issue of romantic scammers who create fake profiles on social media or dating apps, write to women or elderly people and - using cunning strategies - steal large sums of money from them.

This obvious scammer was not the first one to write to me on social media. However, this time I made an exception and did not block him.

"I'm guessing you are not sober," I retorted, sarcastically.

"That's right, I'm intoxicated by your beauty. Just take a good look at yourself in the mirror and tell me if you yourself would not be surprised by that beauty if you were in my place," he answered quickly.

As a part of the experiment I sent the following ironic message to the "intoxicated" suitor:

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"Let us get to the point. You want to borrow money from me, right? You are probably a very busy and successful doctor working in Africa, you lost your credit card, and as soon as we meet in person we will get married and you will pay me back. Of course I want that! How much do you want? State the amount and your account number."

I sent the message and waited. I assumed that the debate would end here. Widein2021 would definitely block me and try his luck elsewhere.

However, a few hours later I had a conversation with him via video call. I saw his real face, the room from which he tried his tricks on women. And he told me why he does it.

We all have to survive somehow

Romantic scammers are not a modern phenomenon, but old tricks under a new coat of paint. Similar scams go way back in history, when there was no Internet, with some dating to the 16th century, according to experts.

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