Ice-cold rip-off

100,000 euros stolen, then fraudster makes a mistake

As we all know, love is blind - or, as in this case, gullible: a woman from the Tyrolean lowlands allowed herself to be coldly ripped off by an unscrupulous online love scammer. All in all, the victim transferred more than 100,000 euros. The fraudster could probably have taken even more money out of the Tyrolean woman's pocket, but he made a mistake.

Back in February, the woman from the Kitzbühel district came across the profile of a man on a dating platform. The local contacted him - and a lively exchange ensued. This was the beginning of a supposed love story - which ended fatally.

Victim skillfully manipulated
By "pretending to be in a love affair" and using "clever, manipulative conversation techniques", the unknown fraudster managed to trick his victim into making several money transfers.

The brazen scam worked until mid-July, with the woman transferring a low, six-figure euro amount in total - over 100,000 euros. But on Wednesday, the victim turned off the money tap.

The perpetrators mistakenly sent a transfer confirmation to a fake recipient who had also fallen victim to this Lovescam scam in 2023.

Die Ermittler

All the money is gone
Because the fraud was discovered. But how? "The perpetrators mistakenly sent a bank transfer confirmation to a fake recipient who had also fallen victim to this Lovescam scam in 2023," say the investigators. The victim at the time informed the current victim, who then immediately filed a complaint with the police.

There is no trace of the perpetrator, all the money is gone!