Online dating scam allegedly robs victims of $1 million
June 22, 2012

Finding love online has always been a fairly perilous endeavor. A mother and daughter from Brighton have been accused of adding to the danger by allegedly stealing more than $1 million by impersonating soldiers.
CBS.com reported that:
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An indictment from the Colorado Attorney General accuses Tracy and Karen Vasseur of Adams County of being part of a “Nigerian internet romance scam” involving people pretending to be military members serving in Afghanistan.
They allegedly asked for the money to pay for satellite phones or plane tickets to potentially come and visit.
According to the Denver Post story:
Some women gave tens of thousands of dollars, including an alleged victim in Great Britain who wired a fake soldier nearly $60,000.
Once the Vasseurs collected the money, they allegedly took 10 percent of it and sent the remaining funds to associates in Nigeria.
The moral of the story comes down to what we were all told as kids from a very young age: don’t trust strangers on the internet.
This is not to say that every single person involved in online dating is out to scam you and rob you blind, but take what people say with a grain of salt and don’t send them money until you have met them in person, if the relationship gets that far.
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