A man from Nigeria who says for five years he approached women online and took money from them by convincing them that they loved him now wants to warn them about falling for fraudsters like him.
Reported losses from romance scams reached a staggering $1.3 billion in 2022, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
“I usually pick my victims from the ages of 38 to, maybe, 60 to 65,” said a man who calls himself Christopher Maxwell. “Single women. I look for women that’re single that have kids, and they need someone to take care of them, to love them.”
He said he searched for divorced women who posted profiles on dating platforms, Instagram or TikTok, and used a picture of an American military service member on his profile to lure victims.
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“Sometimes you have to be patient for months,” Maxwell said. “Sometimes I can get money in three days.”
He said he used sob stories as to why he needed money — from being deployed and not having access to his bank account to needing money for his kids, a car payment or rent.
“Definitely, she would want to help me, because I’m her boyfriend,” he said.
Consumer
For women who wanted to actually chat on the phone with their new boyfriend, Maxwell said he perfected his American accent.
“If you’re talking to someone online, a stranger that you don’t know, um, you can ask for a video call,” he advised. “If someone is refusing to talk to you on a video call for absolutely no reason, it’s a scam.”
With his last victim, who he said he scammed out of $20,000, Maxwell said he became so remorseful when she got sick and went into debt, he decided to confess to her.
“I felt so guilty,” he said. “I showed her my face on video call. She cried. She did not block me.”
Now Maxwell consults with American company Social Catfish, which helps spot scams and uncovers scammers by using reverse search technology to search and verify identities. Cofounder Brianna McClellan says there are warning signs.
“You met someone, and they're professing their love to you right away followed by someone asking you for money, gift cards, wire transfers, anything,” she said. “Anything that has to do with money being sent, red flag.”
She advised doing a reverse image search on Social Catfish or other platforms to verify whether the person is truly legitimate.
Maxwell said he profited about $100,000 over his five years of scamming women. He said he was arrested by local authorities in Nigeria and paid a $250 fine and never spent a day in jail. He did not elaborate on the charges.
TikTok and Instagram will remove content that purposefully deceives and exploits people, so it’s extremely important to file a complaint reporting the posts to the platforms. Dating apps work the same way.
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