He caused several women to lose thousands of francs. The “marriage scammer” ploy: approaching women who were in a difficult phase of their lives.
Image: sda
A marriage scammer is the type of scammer who promises his victims a romantic future, but is ultimately interested in their money. This phenomenon, which is often treated with humor in films and novels, is not romantic and is not particularly funny.
“Marriage fraud” – the term itself seems to minimize the situation – can have devastating effects on victims, both materially and psychologically. This is the case of a young woman whose fate and that of other people involved are now reported by “Blick”.
“I had just gotten out of difficult relationships with guys who didn’t behave properly. I no longer had much self-confidence,” explains Mélissa (not her real name) in an interview with “Blick”. The young woman is in her twenties.
Like the other victims of the scammer – a man in his thirties, nicknamed “Solo Daddy” – she is certainly happy to tell her story, but wishes to remain anonymous. “When this single father told me that he wanted to build a serious and stable relationship, I tried my luck, without being suspicious. We had a lot in common,” she says.
Typical abuser behavior
On the one hand, the victims, in this case women who were coming out of a “difficult relationship” or were in a complicated phase of their lives. On the other, the scammer, in this case a man who made his victims believe on dating applications that life would change for the better thanks to their meeting and a relationship with him.
And finally, the shame of having fallen into the scammer’s trap. “I feel so stupid when I tell this story,” says Mélissa, quoted in Blick. “I feel like I was the protagonist of a bad Netflix series.”
-If Mélissa’s situation and behavior are typical, the approach of the attacker is just as typical. “He has the gift of arousing empathy,” she explains. Not only did the author clearly have this gift, but he was also apparently capable of telling women a lying account of his life that was coherent and therefore credible. He readily presented himself as a victim of circumstances.
He made Mélissa believe that he was going through a bad time. He explained to her that his business had gone under, that his father had gone touring the world, that he no longer spoke to his mother and that his ex was demanding child support for their son. “It really touched my mother and me,” admits Mélissa.
“I felt sorry”
Most of the time, it was about getting money from the women by feigning false facts and feelings. In Mélissa’s case, it was several thousand francs. “He was panicked. He was afraid of losing custody of his son if he did not pay child support quickly,” she said.
“I took pity, I lent him 2,000 francs and I also paid his telephone bill.” Then the man needed a bike for a cycle race. Melissa: “I advanced the sum of 5,200 francs for the purchase of an electric bike and I also paid his rent. He said he was afraid of being deported.
Many victims
When the fraud was discovered, Mélissa was devastated. It was through a friend that she learned of the man’s false game. She explained to him that two complaints of domestic violence had been filed against him and that he had already been convicted of romance fraud. She then broke contact.
She discovered there was a WhatsApp group of women who had all been victims of this same man. Else, Marine, Laurence, Vanessa – all women who were in a “difficult” phase of their lives, who were single or raising their children alone. And that the “marriage scammer” had most often – again, this is a model – met on social networks or on dating applications.
