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<\/a>Mary Leal said scammers, sometimes referred to as \u201ccatfish,\u201d can be found around the globe. Leal said they are most common in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Kenya, Somalia, Russia, Indonesia and the Philippines.<\/p><\/div>\n
The adjunct professor in Wright State\u2019s Crime and Justice Studies program has been intentionally giving an earful to anyone who will listen. She appeared on a recent episode<\/a> of the television show Dr. Phil <\/em>to discuss internet romance scams. Leal spent a weekend in California filming the segment, including a 2.5-hour on-camera interview.<\/p>\n The Dr. Phil<\/em> episode included \u201cSandie,\u201d who sent more than $63,000 to an online scammer in Ghana. \u201cSandie\u201d sometimes stuffed cash into cereal boxes before sending them overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cI first started looking at this when a friend of mine, a retired teacher who was widowed, sent $18,000 over six months to a scammer in Nigeria,\u201d Leal said. \u201cI asked her, \u2018Why didn\u2019t you tell me earlier?\u2019 and she said, \u2018Because I knew you would have yelled and screamed at me.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Leal said she hopes yelling, screaming and public appearances can help warn lonely people of the potential dangers of internet dating \u2026 especially when the object of one\u2019s affection demonstrates poor grammar and spelling skills and soon begins asking for money.<\/p>\n Scammers, sometimes referred to as \u201ccatfish,\u201d can be found around the globe. Leal said they are most common in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Kenya, Somalia, Russia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Leal said she has seen examples of children learning the trade as young as age 5 and income from scamming being used to fund terrorist activities.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no venue, no jurisdiction,\u201d Leal said. \u201cEven Interpol knows enforcement isn\u2019t a realistic hope because, in some countries, even the police are involved. The dating sites could care less. You can never recover the money you\u2019ve lost.\u201d<\/p>\n Leal once set up several \u201cbait\u201d profiles on online dating sites and was targeted by a scammer within three minutes. She traveled to Nigeria and found her man \u201cGeorge\u201d\u2014as well as entire banks of computers being used by other scammers.<\/p>\n Stolen identities and photos are also part of the problem. Leal has been working to help people like Robert Frost, a former male model and race car driver whose picture has been used by scammers on as many as 90 different dating websites.<\/p>\n Leal first appeared on television during a CBS News Early Show<\/em> segment<\/a> on internet dating scams that aired in November 2008. She had begun researching the topic a year earlier and was recommended to CBS by Jeff Hoffman, who founded a website that focuses on revealing the false identities and photos used by scammers.<\/p>\n Wright State first hired Leal to teach in 2005. Her 2013 fall semester classes include Criminal Investigation and Cyber Crime. She has also taught criminology, sociology and other courses. Leal retired from the City of Dayton Police Department in 1994 and is currently a partner and expert witness for Integrated Court Services<\/a> of Vandalia.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no legal cure for this crime,\u201d Leal said \u201cThe only thing we can really do is increase awareness to help prevent more people from becoming victims.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of Mary Leal\u2019s students recently asked her a question about internet romance scams. Sore subject. Continue reading