Women in KZN scammed by man for over R100k after promising them marriage
Swindled out of their money and a host of lies...
After the 'Tinder Swindler' story and the Anna Delvey affair, we can firmly say that looking at things online have us a tad bit paranoid.
Because as much as we know that there are innumerable scams online, we never really understand what scam victims are thinking when they are being scammed.
Sometimes it seems so obvious that they are being scammed, but to the person being scammed, they could be swept up in the scam artist's persona, and far too deep in the web of lies to see the truth.
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And it seems that this was the case for three women from KwaZulu-Natal recently. A man (or woman - because scam artists aren't always who they claim to be) who goes by Chesser205 on TikTok is the new swindler.
He started off communication with three women on TikTok. Two single mothers aged 26 and 32 and a 36-year-old divorcee were scammed out of R113,450.
After establishing a bond with all three women, who are from Phoenix and Verulam, the promise of marriage came up.
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The women contacted Reaction Unit South Africa seeking help when the scam artist who was using the name Howard Chesser and used the WhatsApp Account with mobile number +2347046492485 fed them a host of lies about being stuck at various airports.
"According to the women the doctor left Istanbul and was detained after he failed to clear wedding gifts through customs. He approached each woman for cash explaining that his card had over 60 million US Dollars that were frozen by the United States Military and he needed a few thousand dollars to sort out the Custom Officers." (MSN)
Then he informed them that he was detained at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya, saying that he had to bribe officials after they found his passport had expired.
As much as many of us would think how could these women believe this man, when you are in a state of mind where someone is feeding you exactly what you need to hear, it can be truly believable and difficult to think otherwise.
Eventually when Chesser told them that he was being detained at King Shaka International over unpaid tests at their laboratory, they only saw light when the officers at RUSA called the airport and confirmed that there isn't a lab at the airport...
Image Courtesy of TikTok