
Jennifer Chen, whose name has been changed, accepted a friend request and thought nothing more of it.
A year later, that choice had cost the 61-year-old Australian nearly $600,000.
'Dr Frank Harrison' had told her was an orthopaedic surgeon from the US, but his profile was actually a front for a team of scammers.
The photo the fraudsters used was actually of weight loss expert Dr Garth Davis.
Davis runs into this problem so regularly, he wrote a Facebook post warning people to be wary of accounts using his picture.
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The scam started in early November when 'Dr Harrison' told Chen he was thinking of moving to Australia to start a business and wanted to meet her in person.
Chen told news.com.au that she then received a phone call from him.
She said:
He told me 'I'm at the airport in KL, I got in trouble'.Â
I said 'What kind of trouble?'
He said 'I carried 1.5 million US dollars through customs. They think I'm carrying too much cash.
I got big penality. Please help me.Â
A woman then phoned pretending to work for customs - and Chen was eventually convinced to pay a $3,000 'penalty fee' so the rest of his money would be released.
She said:
The customs officer girl, she told me stuff that sounds very true.
I really believe.Â
The deception accelerated. Soon, the con artists were asking for larger sums with wilder excuses.
Within six months, Chen had been convinced to make 33 payments.
Chen said:
My psychology is I already pay the money to him.Â
The girl tell me once you pay this you will get the money back, customs will release the luggage to him.Â
I didn't wake up.Â
I didn't realise both of them are group scam.
I also scared to tell my husband.Â
Finally I had to tell my husband I made a big mistake.Â
By the time she opened up to her husband, she had paid the scammers $571,000 - her entire life savings.
Chen's husband told news.com.au that she was targeted for her naivety.
He said:
The scammers use Facebook information to pick their targets.Â
They have a team that play different roles to manipulate the emotions of the victim.Â
HT news.com.au
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