“All I know is that I used up the $150,000 that my father left me when my mother died,” said Gravenstein, 58. “She has had various issues with her bank and now she is in a situation where no bank will open an account for her. She is being blackballed. .”
Gravenstein felt isolated at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 after discovering that her mother had donated large sums of money to people she met on social media. He said he did.
While mother and daughter lived in Ksenia, Gravenstein said she and her daughter, local family members, were “scared, to say the least, that we might unknowingly infect her.” So I kept my distance from her.”
Then he got a call from a bank in Muncie, Ind., which raised red flags, Gravenstein said.
Ms. Gravenstein and her mother share a joint account, and a bank representative said, “The mother receives checks and had recently come in to have a $5,000 check drawn on a stranger.'' said Gravenstein.
Gravenstein said she learned her mother had met people playing online word games. She said Gravenstein canceled her check, but that didn't stop her mother's efforts, which continued until 2024.
“Mommy's in really deep.”
After telling her mother about what she did with the bank check, Gravenstein said her mother became angry. She said, “She stormed off to the bank.''
The daughter said her mother received two checks from separate accounts totaling between $30,000 and $50,000 to send to social media friends before her mother closed both accounts. .
Eventually, Gravenstein said, “things started snowballing, and my mother was in deep water.”
Gravenstein said her mother had been in contact with at least two men through various digital apps and phone calls. She never knew their true identities.
“All we know is that they have very strong accents,” she said.
Gravenstein claims one of those people is retired four-star Army Gen. Austin Scott Miller, who served as the supreme commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Stars and Stripes reported in 2021 that the Pentagon has identified more than 900 fake accounts on social media sites posing as mirrors trying to deceive people. “General. Miller does not use public accounts on his social media. Scammers are using his likeness and photo,” the outlet quoted a military official as saying on Twitter.
Gravenstein's mother believes the stories of these people, even though she has never met them in person, and continues to keep in touch with them, adding that she is “engaged to one of them.” Benstein added.
According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), this is a common tactic in romance scams.
“The scammer's goal is to build a relationship as quickly as possible to curry favor with the victim and gain their trust,” the IC3 website states. “Scammers may propose marriage and make plans to meet in person, but it never happens. In the end, they will ask for money.”
Ms. Grabenstein said her mother was resourceful in giving money to these people, including “finding” large sums of cash in their home and purchasing gift cards, even though she did not have access to their bank accounts. He said he has continued to provide it.
“My mother is very smart,” she said. “She still had people behind me, taking me to the grocery store, cashing checks, sending me money and gift cards.”
Gravenstein said she contacted local police, Greene County Adult Protective Services and the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
Supporting “vulnerable parents”
District attorneys contacted about romance scams said they can be extremely difficult to prosecute because the cases are complex, operate in cyberspace, and are nearly impossible to identify. Ta.
Butler County has a community assistance director to assist potential victims, Prosecutor Michael Gmoser told news outlets.
“If a community member suspects that a vulnerable parent is the victim of a romance scam,[the outreach director]meets with the potential victim and explains what is really going on. “We can do that,” Gmoser said.
Gravenstein said she had to sell her mother's home to avoid foreclosure.
“It's a nightmare,” she said. “It doesn't seem real. It sounds like an impossible, made-up story.”
Gravenstein said she is now the guardian of her mother, who has her own apartment.
“I have some control,” she said. “And she's very angry, but she's voluntarily giving me some of that control. She's very upset about that.
“People need to know what their loved ones are doing,” Gravenstein added. “They're lonely and bored. They're not stupid about phones and computers. They don't understand what people out there are going to do to get money.”
How to avoid romance scams
· Be careful what you publish online. Scammers use your social media and dating site details to better target you.
· Look up the person's photo and profile using an online search to see if their image, name, or details appear elsewhere.
・Please take your time and ask lots of questions.
· Be wary if the person seems too perfect or immediately asks you to leave the dating service or social media site and communicate directly.
· Be wary if the person tries to separate you from your friends and family or asks for inappropriate photos or financial data that could be used to blackmail you.
· Be wary of people who always make excuses even after you have arranged to meet in person. If, for whatever reason, you haven't seen the person in a few months, you have good reason to be suspicious.
· Never send money to someone you have only interacted with online or over the phone.
Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.
