Multiple Faces Detected
August 3rd, 2022
Alex was married with six kids. She and her husband had been together for decades, but they were having marital issues. Her husband was a good man, but he had a drinking problem 20 years ago that led to DUIs, which led him to get clean. He broke the habit and was now completely sober for many years, but he was also struggling with depression after his recovery. Although the mistakes he made happened decades ago, Alex says this made her feel unhappy in her marriage.
Suddenly, one day a man named Lucus reached out to her on social media, and they started talking. The conversation carried on and led to more conversations. when they started to get closer, she asked him how old he was. He said he was 49. This was a problem for her because she was 67, but he assured her that age didn’t matter to him, and they could be together regardless.
Alex started talking to Lucus every day, without her husband knowing. “I don’t think a 24-hour period went by without us messaging each other” Alex said.
Lucus would shower her with sweet words of affection “you mean the world to me” he would say. Alex fell in love with his long, poetic messages, and she wanted to get to know him more.
He was in the military, stationed in Syria. He had his daughter with him, and he would talk to her and Alex all the time. Lucus said that he wanted Alex to be a mother to her. Alex was flattered.
One day, Lucus asked Alex to buy a game for his daughter on her tablet. All she needed to do was send the money and he would give it to her. “She will know it’s from you,” he said. Alex agreed.
Alex video chatted with Lucus and his daughter, but there were always technical difficulties, where Alex could barely see them. But she figured it was just because they were in Syria.
The relationship was going great. Amazing even. Lucus and Alex were forming a deep bond, and Alex’s husband still had no idea… Everything changed when Lucus said that he was ready to leave the military and be with her in the states. But, in order for him to leave, he would have to pay some fees.
One day, Lucus’s commander messaged Alex, saying that she was the reason Lucus was leaving the military, and the whole situation was her fault. He told her if he wanted to leave, she would have to pay the fees for him to be officially released. He sent her some documents that he made her sign, along with thousands of dollars in fees for her to pay. She signed the documents, paid the fees, and sent them all back to the commander. Now Lucas was heading back to the US from Syria. Alex was surprised when Lucus said that he needs her to pay for his plane ticket. She agreed.
Meanwhile, in Alex’s home life in the real world, her husband found out the truth about her online relationship. He was devastated and flew into a rage with tears streaming down his face. in his rage, he punched a wall and stormed off. They’ve been married for decades, and Alex said herself that he had never cheated on her, or even entertained another woman in the entire time they had been married.
So her husband got the devastating news that his wife was in an emotional relationship with a man in the military stationed in Syria. Although it was crushing, they decided he wanted to work things out with her. But what he didn’t know was, that she drained their savings account sending the man over $50,000 to fund his trip home along with other expenses.
Alex reached out to Social Catfish when Lucus never arrived to meet her. He claimed to be suck in New York, and homeless. He kept requesting money for food and shelter, but Alex kept telling him she didn’t have any more money. She spent her savings and even maxed out all of her credit cards. This is when she said Lucus started getting “pushy”, which drove her to seek the truth.
Alex reached out to Social Catfish, and during our investigation, we found out that Lucus was a completely fabricated persona. The real man in the photos was a Russian entrepreneur and Marxman who has his photos stolen all the time in scams. Alex was hurt by the news, and although she said she would leave her husband if the man in the photos was real, she decided to get counseling to work out the issues in their marriage.
How to Avoid Ending Up In This Situation
When it comes to being romance scammed, many people who fall victim to these scams never think something like this could happen to them. Until it does. Avoiding these scams is all about having the right information. If you are wondering whether someone you know is a romance scammer, all you have to do is upload their photo into the search bar below and hit “search”. Run your first search today!
