Hopeless romantics desperate to find true love have been warned not to fall for a marriage scam offering to link lonely-hearts in Bahrain with desperate dazzlers from Eastern Europe.
Victims risk finding themselves red-faced, out of pocket … and still single. The authorities have issued the alert after dealing with many dejected, disappointed and miserable men.
As part of the con, fraudsters offer false marriage opportunities by showing pictures and videos of attractive women, usually from poorer European countries, and present victims with alluring incentives, including fictitious sums of money.
“They could be ads on social media or they could contact you personally online,” Interior Ministry’s anti-economic crimes directorate’s financial crimes division director Major Mohammed Al Abdulla told the GDN.
The advertisements usually begin by stating a so-called change in a country’s laws which ‘rewards’ foreign men for marrying their left-on-the-shelf women.
“The non-existent reward can be up to BD100,000 and the fraudsters will claim that all the men need to do is marry one of the women, and not only will they walk away that much richer, but will also have a beautiful bride awaiting them,” he added.
The main aim of the fraudsters is to win over their prey’s trust enough to eventually suggest transferring money in the form of ‘introduction fees’ as a dowry.
“It all starts out innocently enough,” revealed Maj Al Abdulla. “They do not demand money immediately, instead they start by ‘getting to know you’ or seeing if the women are ‘compatible’ with you.
“They might talk to the victim over the course of several weeks or so, and finally claim that they would be happy to get married.
“That is when they start to ask for money. Some might ask for a dowry worth up to BD4,000 if not more, in addition to money for other expenses such as flight tickets, visa costs, and such.
“They might even send you a link which redirects you to an ‘official’ website where the payments are made, which they use to steal your bank details.”
Once content with the amount of money they have managed to squeeze out of their victims, they block them and move on to the next fall guy, repeating the process.
The conmen either masquerade as the beautiful women, or might hire them to converse with the love-struck victims in order to gain their trust, and eventually, their savings.
“The pictures and videos may not necessarily be false,” said Maj Al Abdulla, giving a whole new meaning to the role of ‘call girls’. “Occasionally, they may be real women who get paid about BD50 per scam.
“The more people they can con out of their money, the more they make in return, meaning they will be more motivated to whisper sweet nothings in a call or video message to get you interested in them.”
As the saying goes: ‘Nothing hurts more than realising she meant everything to you, and you meant nothing to her’.
Maj Al Abdulla has some advice on how best to deal with the calls and messages.
“Of course, as the old saying goes, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is,” he said.
“The scammers usually pretend they are part of a company or marriage agency, so always do your research on them before initiating anything.
“Do not give out your private bank details to anyone, even if they tell you your CPR or IBAN number as they cannot do anything with just these limited details.
“And, of course, update yourself with modern methods that conmen use to best avoid being scammed.”
He also urged people in Bahrain to join the Financial and Cyber Crimes WhatsApp group, available in English and Arabic, which can be accessed through a link in the Instagram bio @acees_bh.
- Victims are encouraged to report cases via the ministry’s 24-hour hotline, 992, visit the nearest police station or email at aecd@interior.gov.bh
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