Cape Town dubbed the 'new Lagos' of dating scams as women lose millions

A dating scam that has swindled middle-aged women out of billions of rands has turned Cape Town into an international cybercrime capital.

Hundreds of women in SA and around the world have fallen victim to romance-scam syndicates based in the city, and investigators estimate the perpetrators have netted more than R4bn.

This week, the Sunday Times spoke to four South African women who claim to have been collectively swindled out of R16m by men they met on WhatsApp, Facebook and dating sites.

Three of them provided bank statements supporting their claims and two said they had reported cases of fraud to the police.

The women all believed they had found love and made plans to meet the men, who portrayed themselves as successful business people and created sophisticated false identities to reel in their victims.

Prosecutor JA Agulhas of the Bellville specialised commercial crimes court, who won fraud convictions against two syndicate members now serving jail terms of 10 years and 12 years, said improved internet bandwidth was fuelling the crime wave.

We have established that there were numerous victims in America, Australia, New Zealand, England and Canada," he said in a statement.

"This compelled us to work with these countries through an international co-operation agreement in order to establish contact with international overseas victims, and to ensure electronic testimonies and information from international service providers."

A member of one of the foreign law enforcement agencies investigating the syndicates said the targets were usually aged between 50 and 65.

"This is not your Nigerian prince scam. It's psychological. It's the complete mental deconstruction of these women. If they target 15 people and they get one hit it's still worth it," said the source.

He said the perpetrators were all in Cape Town "and they are always Nigerians", which was why the city was now dubbed "New Lagos" in international law enforcement circles.

Last Christmas, he said, at least 15 victims of the scam from overseas had asked embassies, consulates and high commissions in Cape Town to assist men who had told the women they were in hospital in the city and needed money.

"That's how we found out about some of the women who were scammed. We'll be like, 'OK, have you ever met your "fiancé"?' and none of them have," he said.

We have established that there were numerous victims in America, Australia, New Zealand, England and Canada

—  Prosecutor JA Agulhas of the Bellville specialised commercial crimes court

"[They could operate in] Botswana [but] it's not as nice as Cape Town, and everyone suspects [people in] Nigeria. The big part of the scam is the American travelling to Cape Town. And the money always comes here. Would we have as many victims if they were asked to send money to Nigeria? The South African angle works better."

Investigators said there were at least three syndicates of conmen operating in Cape Town, with Table View popular as a base of operations, and their scams began with the creation of fake personae and online profiles.

"They'll have an altered copy of a passport, usually a US passport, but they can also use others," said an investigator.

"They'll create an identity that will include family members such as daughters or sons. They are looking for vulnerable victims and will start talking on dating sites or social media sites and very quickly use phrases like 'I love you' and so on. They always talk about being burnt by love, or their wife died.

"Sometimes they'll introduce some sexual stuff in their chats and they'll say things like, 'You're my soulmate, I can't wait for my daughter to meet you.' Sometimes the 'daughter' even sends them money.

"One victim even met a role-player in New York, an actor who was hired to talk to her. They might have a role-player talking to them over the phone."

The investigator said it was often his job to explain to the women how they had been tricked. "It's very difficult for these victims," he said, adding that the scammers left a trail of shattered lives, bankruptcy and homelessness.

Louise Heynes, 54, from Cape Town, said she now relied on her mother and daughter for support after two men she met online borrowed more than R5m from her and vanished in 2014.

Heynes now runs a support group, Sky women, for victims of romance scams. "It's the worst form of manipulation. It's the same trauma that rape victims go through - the mental abuse," she said.

"They use the love strategy to lure you in. I had gone through a bad divorce and I was very vulnerable."

Heynes engaged a private investigator in an unsuccessful attempt to get her money back but said she had not gone to the police.

Zelda Erasmus, 59, an estate agent in Riviersonderend, said she had no intention of starting a new romantic relationship after her husband died in 2009. Then "Dylan Anderson", who claimed to be a US Army sergeant, contacted her out of the blue on WhatsApp.

Their relationship became romantic, and she sold her house and began making arrangements to emigrate to the US, expecting to marry Anderson to get citizenship.

Then crisis after crisis befell the "soldier" and she always bailed him out, eventually paying R600,000 to bank accounts in the US.

Erasmus said she had not reported "Anderson" to the police because although she knew she had been the victim of a scam, she did not understand how it had happened.

Gillian Goldman claimed to have lost R10m, including cash in international bank accounts, her business and her house, resulting in her ending up in a "care centre" for the homeless. She provided the Sunday Times with documents showing she had lost R1.6m, and said she had reported her case to the police in Norwood, Johannesburg.

After becoming embroiled in an intimate relationship through WhatsApp, she started sending money to "Allen Craig". He claimed to be a wealthy business person of Mediterranean origin with a home in Camps Bay.

Cape Town clinical psychologist Jean Luyt said the loneliness that often followed the loss of a life partner meant such women were particularly vulnerable to these sorts of scams.

"Loss of significant relationships can cut one off from previous social networks, [so] it is understandable that people will seek alternative areas to meet people and engage with people, and this makes people vulnerable to being exploited," she said.

Another victim of the syndicates, Petro Swart, 61, spent a year on her own after her long-term partner collapsed and died in front of her.

"Then my kids put me on Instagram. They said I should go on with my life, I needed to get a partner again, I can't grow old alone," she said.

She received dozens of friend requests from men and quickly developed a relationship with one of them. She ended up selling her flat, borrowing money and giving most of her pension to the scammer, losing more than R800,000. She has reported a case of fraud to Krugersdorp police.

"We were together for a year and nine months," she said. "Recently he called me again. He said, 'I want to talk to you,' and I said, 'What do you want from me?'

"He said, 'I love you very much, I will never forget you, you will always stay in my heart, but I need some more help from you.'

"I told him to go to hell."