Panorama (1953–…): Season 27, Episode 39 - Billion Pound Romance Scam - full transcript
Tonight on Panorama,
we investigate the criminals
who con people looking for love.
It was the same name and the same picture.
I actually went,
"How could I have been so stupid?"
Catfish - the romance fraudsters
who exploit the lonely.
Has she asked you for money? Yeah,
I sent her a little bit of money.
I'm worried, Roy,
that you're being scammed again.
Oh, no, no, I'm not.
We set a trap for the criminals…
…as we uncover a crime that takes
us around the world.
It was not me.
I did not do it.
If you date someone online,
they can be anywhere in the world.
And that can be risky.
Organised gangs of fraudsters
are just a click away.
And they will say anything
to get your cash.
Most of the criminal gangs are based
in Africa,
but their networks spread right
around the world,
and many of their victims are in the UK.
PHONE RINGS Good afternoon, Are
They Safe, how can I help?
The criminals are known as catfish,
and they hide behind fake profiles.
We are pretty sure that it is a scam.
I've come to a company in Kent
that tracks them down.
They're set up as a business, basically.
They're criminal gangs, different
people working together to make sure
the process seems realistic
and that the story works together.
Did you find another Facebook page?
That's the Facebook page.
Many victims are too embarrassed
to go to the police,
but there are still 10 catfish
crimes reported in the UK every day.
The average victim loses £15,000.
We do believe that you have been
the victim of catfishing, OK?
Because this gym isn't in Nigeria,
it is in America.
When you have to go back to
individuals and explain to them
that this person doesn't exist, they're
not real, um, that is really hard to do
and it's extremely hard for victims
to understand that as well.
I wanted to try and find somebody.
It's just nice to have somebody to talk to.
Roy Twiggs' life has been destroyed
by a catfish.
Oh, I don't know… He was cheated out of
his life savings, and now he's broke.
I've lost everything.
When the two police officers knocked
on the door, they just said,
had I been sending money
to this account? I said yes.
They said, "Well, it's fraud.
She's not who she says she is."
Roy met the fraudster
on an online dating site.
She sent him these stolen pictures,
and called herself Donna.
I thought we were in love with each other.
We were going to get together, get married,
and that would have been it.
I had no suspicion whatsoever.
They talked for weeks
before she asked for money
for a building project in Malaysia.
The money seemed to be
for plausible things.
When you're sending 4,000, 3,000, 5,000
and suchlike, it sort of all adds up.
After I'd worked everything out,
I'd actually paid her
the best part of £100,000.
Roy should be enjoying
a comfortable retirement.
Instead, he's paying off creditors
each month using his pension.
I'm broke.
You're whitewashed, you're totally
devastated.
You're finished. You… You just don't
want to be bothered any more.
I want to try to catch a catfish.
So I've set up my own fake dating profile.
Women are more likely to be targeted,
so I'm Kathryn Hunter,
a divorcee looking for love.
I've asked Laura to check out
the bait I'm using.
Here's one with a horse.
Look at the profile
and tell me what you think.
"Hopeless romantic" - that's great.
Divorced.
"Looking for the one, looking for love."
Earns a lot of money,
so that's really good.
I think they'll see a very
financially independent female.
How long do you think it will take
before a catfish approaches Kathryn?
I think it will start very quickly.
They'll bombard you with messages,
and then after about a week,
they'll start asking for money.
Asking for cash. Yeah.
Catfish often pretend
to be in the military.
I told nobody about the money,
because I was so ashamed.
Val McKie lost £8,000 to a man she
thought was a Major in the British Army.
It's hard to explain what the shame is.
It's like when you think you've done
something really wrong.
The military cover story gives catfish
an excuse not to meet in person.
This is a picture of him?
Looks like he's somewhere
in a war zone in the desert.
He's got his Army uniform on.
He's confined by the Official Secrets Act,
so I wouldn't want to get him into
trouble by asking him questions.
It's the perfect cover story, isn't it?
Totally.
Absolutely, because you can just
say, "I can't tell you."
Val chatted online to her soldier
for six months.
It was absolutely blissful.
I still remember that feeling
as I'm talking to you now.
It was absolutely magical.
That's how I felt.
Val thought the money she gave him
was for their future together.
But then she found a warning online
from a woman who'd been scammed
by a fake soldier.
It was the same name and the same picture.
And I just went…
I actually went,
"How could I have been so stupid?"
"The whole thing has been a con."
You've basically got to deal with
the sadness of it.
MOBILE RINGS
It's not long before our catfish
begin to bite.
One of them is also
claiming to be a soldier.
Right, so things are moving pretty quickly.
I've been speaking to the guy,
who says his name's Paul Richard
and that he's in the US military.
He's messaging me now on WhatsApp
quite a bit.
And just after a few messages,
he says, "I love you",
"I want to make you my future wife."
I'm having my lunch at the moment
and this guy, Paul Richard,
the one who's a US soldier, he won't
stop messaging me. He is relentless.
I said to him I'm on my lunch break,
Kathryn's on her lunch break,
but he keeps messaging,
and you can see just how much
they bombard people with messages.
And it's just non-stop.
We can prove the man who calls
himself Paul Richard is lying.
This is the photo he sent me.
But a search of the image online
shows that it's someone else.
What is up?
Welcome to another exciting video.
It's a real American Marine,
who's fed up with catfish
using his pictures to con people.
These guys will say anything to
anybody and lie about, you know…
"I need some money because my son
is in the hospital."
"My wife died, I'm a widower."
They'll lie to you through their teeth.
I've run into so many messages.
Even if I show them proof that
it's not me that's scamming them,
they still don't believe it
because they're so deeply in love.
Romance frauds are thought to cost victims
around £1 billion a year in America alone.
But the catfish are hardly ever caught.
The most successful investigation
was here in Gulfport, Mississippi.
There were thousands of victims.
It all started with a lonely woman who
became suspicious of her online admirer.
He would say things like,
he wanted to meet me.
I said, "That would be good".
But the day never came.
So at one time I told him, you know,
if we was going to meet, we needed to meet.
The man was trying to trick
Nitha into being a mule.
He wanted her to send items
from America to South Africa.
It started with a package.
When I got it, he said, "Don't open it."
"Do not open it, just sign it."
"And put a sticker on it and mail it."
The box contained mobile phones,
but Nitha didn't send it.
She called the authorities and they
launched an undercover investigation.
These are some of the Yahoo boys,
the targets of our investigation.
They're the catfish network.
Absolutely, yes.
For 18 months, agent Todd Williams
posed as Nitha online.
You had to pretend to be a
66-year-old woman? Yes.
That was difficult at times.
The narratives that they use, they
read just like a romantic novel.
They're very good with the words
that they choose.
They start off very slow, and rapidly
build an emotional relationship.
These are all the prearranged narratives
that the Yahoo boys would utilise.
You'll see it's all sequentially numbered,
two, three,
and it's all sequentially developed.
There's stuff here like "I've no words
to describe the way I feel about you."
"Our love is a strong love."
And they just copy and paste that, I guess?
Absolutely, and you'll see the sequence
in how the emotional relationship evolves.
This is how one individual is able
to manage a relationship
with 50 different people simultaneously.
And that's how organised they are,
they have these scripts
they work off, basically?
Absolutely, yes.
The investigation led to the arrest
of four American mules
and 12 Nigerian fraudsters.
The gang leader was sentenced
to 115 years in a US jail.
How does it feel reading this now,
knowing what you know?
Not good.
It makes you sort of a little bit angry.
Because I'd just like to hit him, you know?
Just one good hit!
Make you feel better.
I've been messaging my catfish for a week.
Our fake American soldier now
wants to talk on the phone.
Hello?
So my producer is going to play the part
of my online persona, Kathryn Hunter.
Yeah, I can't wait.
I'm really excited for that day.
He's told us he's in Dubai, but he's
phoning from a Nigerian number.
Of course.
SHE IMITATES KISSING
Yeah, give me a kiss.
Mwah.
You're so sweet.
As well as the declarations of love,
there's a hint of the scam to come.
He claims his son is going
into hospital in America.
Goodnight.
SHE HANGS UP We think our catfish might
use that story to ask for money.
Well, that was a pretty intense first date.
Amazing. That's the first time
we've heard a catfish's voice.
I am really surprised that he
actually spoke to us over the phone.
Yeah, so am I.
He's definitely not from America.
Catfish never want to let their victims go.
If you've been hooked once, you're
more likely to be targeted again.
Have you got a picture of Sherry?
Yeah, I've got a picture of Sherry.
That's her? Yeah, that's Sherry.
After losing around £100,000,
Roy thinks he's finally met
a genuine love interest online -
someone claiming to be an
American called Sherry.
I've never spoken to her.
You've never spoken to Sherry
on the phone before?
No. We used to… Just message?
She calls you a king as well.
That's what Donna used to call you.
Yeah, yeah.
Does that not make you suspicious, Roy,
that this person might be
a fraudster as well?
No. No, it's…it's how the Americans talk.
I've spoken to a few Americans
that call you the king
and this, that and the other.
On your calendar earlier,
I noticed that you've ticked off,
it says that you paid Sherry £500
a couple of weeks back. Yeah.
So you have given
this new girlfriend of yours money?
Yeah, I sent her a little bit of money.
But that was… to sort something out.
And so far, that's been about it.
I'm worried, Roy, that you're being
scammed again by…
Oh, no, no, I'm not. I'm not…
It's the same story, isn't it?
Someone you've met online asking you
for money, asking for help.
Yeah. You haven't met them in person.
It's got to a point where I've said
enough is enough, you know?
And all right, £500 is not,
er, nearly £100,000, is it,
you know what I mean? It's still a
lot of money to give to a stranger.
Yeah, but they reckon that
drugs and drink are big killers.
Yeah, they are, but loneliness is
a bigger killer than any of them.
And trying to not be lonely
is… …is what I do every day.
Catfish exploit our emotions to get money.
Our fake American soldier claims
his son's illness has got worse.
He needs cash for the hospital treatment.
MOBILE RINGS The messages are
coming through from him even now.
He's saying, "I can't afford to lose
my only son. I'm crying over here."
"I would be grateful if you could
help me out with this."
And we haven't replied to him
in a few hours. He said,
"It looks like someone's not in
the mood to talk seriously today."
So he's getting pretty angry
that we haven't replied.
But you can tell he really wants
to try and get this money from us
as soon as possible.
It's time to make another phone call.
The catfish asks us to send money
to his son's nanny in America.
Yeah, send me the name.
I'm just telling you, I'm going to
try and do it as soon as possible.
Don't worry. Don't worry.
You're not going to lose him.
Moments later, he sends us details
of the nanny.
Here we go.
Marcy Krovak…oh, yes, we've got an address.
It's a breakthrough…
So we've got a name and address.
…because it's a real person in America.
The name is…Marcy Krovak.
We don't know if she's working
as a money mule for the catfish,
or is a victim herself.
The only way to find out
is to send her a small amount of
cash to see if she'll collect it.
Marcy Krovak lives here.
Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.
Population, 3,000.
We've sent the money by Western Union.
Marcy will have to show her ID
to pick up the cash.
We think she'll come here to collect it.
OK, no sign of her yet? Not yet.
We wait, and wait, and wait.
But Marcy doesn't show up.
So we ask our catfish
if we can speak to her directly.
He puts us in contact
with a woman he says is Marcy.
But it's just another lie.
Hello?
I contacted her, supposedly Marcy,
and then a Nigerian woman came on
the phone pretending to be Marcy.
So, yeah, it's clearly not Marcy.
Yeah, that's really strange.
Sounds like our catfish, Paul,
doesn't want us to speak to the
money mule in person,
and this stakeout is getting more surreal.
We've spent three days in Slippery
Rock, waiting for Marcy to appear.
And then we find out our money has
been collected
400 miles away in New York
by someone using Marcy's ID.
Her details are being
used to launder money,
but Marcy refuses to talk to us about it.
So I catch up with her as she's
heading to work. Marcy? Ms Krovak?
What do you want?! I have no idea
who this gentleman is.
I'm from the BBC's Panorama programme.
I've no idea who you are! I'd like
to talk to you about some money.
Do you know any fraudsters in Nigeria? No.
I've talked to a gentleman, but
I've never picked up money, nothing.
I can show you everything.
Can we see your messages?
Marcy has text messages from our catfish.
They show he wanted her
to pick up the cash we sent.
What does this one say? This one says,
"Marcy, I need you to get hold
of a fund at Western Union."
"It was sent in your name."
"Go straight to Western Union
and pick it up."
And then it says, "I'm not happy."
And I said, "What the
BLEEP is the money for?"
So this person asked you to pick up
money for him from Western Union?
Yeah, and I didn't.
It's confusing, because there's
such a thin line
between innocent victims and money mules.
Marcy gives us a credit card in her
name that the catfish sent her.
I've had it for probably
over a month or so.
He keeps asking me to go and get 1,000
in 100 increments as Amazon cards.
Catfish often use gift cards
to launder money.
But Marcy says she didn't buy any.
How long have you been speaking
to this person for? Since June.
Marcy agrees to meet me again
later the same day.
And in some texts, he calls you "honey".
It seems like you might be
in a relationship with him.
He thinks he's in a relationship.
Do you think you're in a
relationship with him? No.
She says she's been used
by our catfish too.
Did you not think it was suspicious,
someone sending you a credit card?
Yeah. Did you not go to the police?
No. Why not?
Just wasn't thinking, you know.
I'm very upset.
And very scared.
I never was going to touch
that card, never use that card,
and I never was going to go to Western
Union and pick that money up.
But now somebody has used my info
and gone and picked it up.
It was not me.
I did not do it.
Please find this person.
Marcy's out of her depth,
and I'm not sure she understands
what's been happening.
There's no doubt it's our catfish
who's really to blame.
And we think we have finally
tracked him down.
The data on one of his pictures has led
us to his real social media account.
His name is Daniel Joseph Okechukwu.
And this photo of him was taken here,
a small shopping area about 80 miles
from Lagos in Nigeria.
Our catfish used to run this barber
shop here in Ibadan.
He's even got a picture of
himself on the door.
But it's closed and we've been told
it's been shut for a few weeks now.
No-one here seems to know where he is.
We spend two days trying to find him
in the local area.
But in the end, the only
way we can get to him… Hi.
…Is by phoning as Kathryn Hunter again.
Mr Okechukwu? I'm from the BBC's
Panorama programme.
I've been looking for you.
You're a romance fraudster,
aren't you, Mr Okechukwu?
Why do you scam innocent people like this?
That's interesting, because
I've spoken to the real person
whose picture you're using.
Your name's Mr Okechukwu, isn't it?
Daniel Joseph Okechukwu.
That's you, and we're standing
outside your barber shop right now.
Are you an American soldier?
So why do you have a Nigerian accent?
I think you do.
You trick people into thinking
they're in love with you
and then you take their money, don't you?
It's all right, we can stop pretending now.
Why do you scam people out of money?
Why do you do it?
LINE GOES DEAD
And he's hung up.
Daniel Joseph Okechukwu later called
back and admitted he's a catfish.
He apologised and said he was only doing
it because his barber shop had failed.
And then he asked us for more money.
Roy has finally realised that his
last online girlfriend, Sherry,
was not all she seemed either.
Are things with Sherry finished now, Roy?
Yeah, it's…what's the point?
I think all Sherry is is
a… Just a money grabber.
Sherry isn't real, is she?
She's not a real person.
Oh, she's probably real and
one thing and another, but…
I think as far as I'm concerned,
she's not being truthful with me.
Today, he's got a date with a new
woman who contacted him online.
She's more in my age group as well.
He's convinced that this time,
she's for real.
Do you think, Roy, deep down,
that you're just looking for someone
to love, anyone?
Well, I don't know.
I just want somebody to
be with, to talk to.
I'm not, er…
Well, I'm not a brilliant catch.
And that's all there is to it.
Roy has lost everything to women
he's met online.
His new Hungarian girlfriend
is supposed to be arriving.
But Roy has waited in vain before.
Where are you?
I can see you.
Yeah.
I can see you.
Today, someone has actually turned up.
She's here, she's here.
All right, love?
And Elizabeth has even paid
for her own ticket.
OK? Yeah. Good.
This time seems to be different for Roy.
But there are so many lonely people
looking for love online.
And that means there will always be
more victims for catfish.
we investigate the criminals
who con people looking for love.
It was the same name and the same picture.
I actually went,
"How could I have been so stupid?"
Catfish - the romance fraudsters
who exploit the lonely.
Has she asked you for money? Yeah,
I sent her a little bit of money.
I'm worried, Roy,
that you're being scammed again.
Oh, no, no, I'm not.
We set a trap for the criminals…
…as we uncover a crime that takes
us around the world.
It was not me.
I did not do it.
If you date someone online,
they can be anywhere in the world.
And that can be risky.
Organised gangs of fraudsters
are just a click away.
And they will say anything
to get your cash.
Most of the criminal gangs are based
in Africa,
but their networks spread right
around the world,
and many of their victims are in the UK.
PHONE RINGS Good afternoon, Are
They Safe, how can I help?
The criminals are known as catfish,
and they hide behind fake profiles.
We are pretty sure that it is a scam.
I've come to a company in Kent
that tracks them down.
They're set up as a business, basically.
They're criminal gangs, different
people working together to make sure
the process seems realistic
and that the story works together.
Did you find another Facebook page?
That's the Facebook page.
Many victims are too embarrassed
to go to the police,
but there are still 10 catfish
crimes reported in the UK every day.
The average victim loses £15,000.
We do believe that you have been
the victim of catfishing, OK?
Because this gym isn't in Nigeria,
it is in America.
When you have to go back to
individuals and explain to them
that this person doesn't exist, they're
not real, um, that is really hard to do
and it's extremely hard for victims
to understand that as well.
I wanted to try and find somebody.
It's just nice to have somebody to talk to.
Roy Twiggs' life has been destroyed
by a catfish.
Oh, I don't know… He was cheated out of
his life savings, and now he's broke.
I've lost everything.
When the two police officers knocked
on the door, they just said,
had I been sending money
to this account? I said yes.
They said, "Well, it's fraud.
She's not who she says she is."
Roy met the fraudster
on an online dating site.
She sent him these stolen pictures,
and called herself Donna.
I thought we were in love with each other.
We were going to get together, get married,
and that would have been it.
I had no suspicion whatsoever.
They talked for weeks
before she asked for money
for a building project in Malaysia.
The money seemed to be
for plausible things.
When you're sending 4,000, 3,000, 5,000
and suchlike, it sort of all adds up.
After I'd worked everything out,
I'd actually paid her
the best part of £100,000.
Roy should be enjoying
a comfortable retirement.
Instead, he's paying off creditors
each month using his pension.
I'm broke.
You're whitewashed, you're totally
devastated.
You're finished. You… You just don't
want to be bothered any more.
I want to try to catch a catfish.
So I've set up my own fake dating profile.
Women are more likely to be targeted,
so I'm Kathryn Hunter,
a divorcee looking for love.
I've asked Laura to check out
the bait I'm using.
Here's one with a horse.
Look at the profile
and tell me what you think.
"Hopeless romantic" - that's great.
Divorced.
"Looking for the one, looking for love."
Earns a lot of money,
so that's really good.
I think they'll see a very
financially independent female.
How long do you think it will take
before a catfish approaches Kathryn?
I think it will start very quickly.
They'll bombard you with messages,
and then after about a week,
they'll start asking for money.
Asking for cash. Yeah.
Catfish often pretend
to be in the military.
I told nobody about the money,
because I was so ashamed.
Val McKie lost £8,000 to a man she
thought was a Major in the British Army.
It's hard to explain what the shame is.
It's like when you think you've done
something really wrong.
The military cover story gives catfish
an excuse not to meet in person.
This is a picture of him?
Looks like he's somewhere
in a war zone in the desert.
He's got his Army uniform on.
He's confined by the Official Secrets Act,
so I wouldn't want to get him into
trouble by asking him questions.
It's the perfect cover story, isn't it?
Totally.
Absolutely, because you can just
say, "I can't tell you."
Val chatted online to her soldier
for six months.
It was absolutely blissful.
I still remember that feeling
as I'm talking to you now.
It was absolutely magical.
That's how I felt.
Val thought the money she gave him
was for their future together.
But then she found a warning online
from a woman who'd been scammed
by a fake soldier.
It was the same name and the same picture.
And I just went…
I actually went,
"How could I have been so stupid?"
"The whole thing has been a con."
You've basically got to deal with
the sadness of it.
MOBILE RINGS
It's not long before our catfish
begin to bite.
One of them is also
claiming to be a soldier.
Right, so things are moving pretty quickly.
I've been speaking to the guy,
who says his name's Paul Richard
and that he's in the US military.
He's messaging me now on WhatsApp
quite a bit.
And just after a few messages,
he says, "I love you",
"I want to make you my future wife."
I'm having my lunch at the moment
and this guy, Paul Richard,
the one who's a US soldier, he won't
stop messaging me. He is relentless.
I said to him I'm on my lunch break,
Kathryn's on her lunch break,
but he keeps messaging,
and you can see just how much
they bombard people with messages.
And it's just non-stop.
We can prove the man who calls
himself Paul Richard is lying.
This is the photo he sent me.
But a search of the image online
shows that it's someone else.
What is up?
Welcome to another exciting video.
It's a real American Marine,
who's fed up with catfish
using his pictures to con people.
These guys will say anything to
anybody and lie about, you know…
"I need some money because my son
is in the hospital."
"My wife died, I'm a widower."
They'll lie to you through their teeth.
I've run into so many messages.
Even if I show them proof that
it's not me that's scamming them,
they still don't believe it
because they're so deeply in love.
Romance frauds are thought to cost victims
around £1 billion a year in America alone.
But the catfish are hardly ever caught.
The most successful investigation
was here in Gulfport, Mississippi.
There were thousands of victims.
It all started with a lonely woman who
became suspicious of her online admirer.
He would say things like,
he wanted to meet me.
I said, "That would be good".
But the day never came.
So at one time I told him, you know,
if we was going to meet, we needed to meet.
The man was trying to trick
Nitha into being a mule.
He wanted her to send items
from America to South Africa.
It started with a package.
When I got it, he said, "Don't open it."
"Do not open it, just sign it."
"And put a sticker on it and mail it."
The box contained mobile phones,
but Nitha didn't send it.
She called the authorities and they
launched an undercover investigation.
These are some of the Yahoo boys,
the targets of our investigation.
They're the catfish network.
Absolutely, yes.
For 18 months, agent Todd Williams
posed as Nitha online.
You had to pretend to be a
66-year-old woman? Yes.
That was difficult at times.
The narratives that they use, they
read just like a romantic novel.
They're very good with the words
that they choose.
They start off very slow, and rapidly
build an emotional relationship.
These are all the prearranged narratives
that the Yahoo boys would utilise.
You'll see it's all sequentially numbered,
two, three,
and it's all sequentially developed.
There's stuff here like "I've no words
to describe the way I feel about you."
"Our love is a strong love."
And they just copy and paste that, I guess?
Absolutely, and you'll see the sequence
in how the emotional relationship evolves.
This is how one individual is able
to manage a relationship
with 50 different people simultaneously.
And that's how organised they are,
they have these scripts
they work off, basically?
Absolutely, yes.
The investigation led to the arrest
of four American mules
and 12 Nigerian fraudsters.
The gang leader was sentenced
to 115 years in a US jail.
How does it feel reading this now,
knowing what you know?
Not good.
It makes you sort of a little bit angry.
Because I'd just like to hit him, you know?
Just one good hit!
Make you feel better.
I've been messaging my catfish for a week.
Our fake American soldier now
wants to talk on the phone.
Hello?
So my producer is going to play the part
of my online persona, Kathryn Hunter.
Yeah, I can't wait.
I'm really excited for that day.
He's told us he's in Dubai, but he's
phoning from a Nigerian number.
Of course.
SHE IMITATES KISSING
Yeah, give me a kiss.
Mwah.
You're so sweet.
As well as the declarations of love,
there's a hint of the scam to come.
He claims his son is going
into hospital in America.
Goodnight.
SHE HANGS UP We think our catfish might
use that story to ask for money.
Well, that was a pretty intense first date.
Amazing. That's the first time
we've heard a catfish's voice.
I am really surprised that he
actually spoke to us over the phone.
Yeah, so am I.
He's definitely not from America.
Catfish never want to let their victims go.
If you've been hooked once, you're
more likely to be targeted again.
Have you got a picture of Sherry?
Yeah, I've got a picture of Sherry.
That's her? Yeah, that's Sherry.
After losing around £100,000,
Roy thinks he's finally met
a genuine love interest online -
someone claiming to be an
American called Sherry.
I've never spoken to her.
You've never spoken to Sherry
on the phone before?
No. We used to… Just message?
She calls you a king as well.
That's what Donna used to call you.
Yeah, yeah.
Does that not make you suspicious, Roy,
that this person might be
a fraudster as well?
No. No, it's…it's how the Americans talk.
I've spoken to a few Americans
that call you the king
and this, that and the other.
On your calendar earlier,
I noticed that you've ticked off,
it says that you paid Sherry £500
a couple of weeks back. Yeah.
So you have given
this new girlfriend of yours money?
Yeah, I sent her a little bit of money.
But that was… to sort something out.
And so far, that's been about it.
I'm worried, Roy, that you're being
scammed again by…
Oh, no, no, I'm not. I'm not…
It's the same story, isn't it?
Someone you've met online asking you
for money, asking for help.
Yeah. You haven't met them in person.
It's got to a point where I've said
enough is enough, you know?
And all right, £500 is not,
er, nearly £100,000, is it,
you know what I mean? It's still a
lot of money to give to a stranger.
Yeah, but they reckon that
drugs and drink are big killers.
Yeah, they are, but loneliness is
a bigger killer than any of them.
And trying to not be lonely
is… …is what I do every day.
Catfish exploit our emotions to get money.
Our fake American soldier claims
his son's illness has got worse.
He needs cash for the hospital treatment.
MOBILE RINGS The messages are
coming through from him even now.
He's saying, "I can't afford to lose
my only son. I'm crying over here."
"I would be grateful if you could
help me out with this."
And we haven't replied to him
in a few hours. He said,
"It looks like someone's not in
the mood to talk seriously today."
So he's getting pretty angry
that we haven't replied.
But you can tell he really wants
to try and get this money from us
as soon as possible.
It's time to make another phone call.
The catfish asks us to send money
to his son's nanny in America.
Yeah, send me the name.
I'm just telling you, I'm going to
try and do it as soon as possible.
Don't worry. Don't worry.
You're not going to lose him.
Moments later, he sends us details
of the nanny.
Here we go.
Marcy Krovak…oh, yes, we've got an address.
It's a breakthrough…
So we've got a name and address.
…because it's a real person in America.
The name is…Marcy Krovak.
We don't know if she's working
as a money mule for the catfish,
or is a victim herself.
The only way to find out
is to send her a small amount of
cash to see if she'll collect it.
Marcy Krovak lives here.
Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.
Population, 3,000.
We've sent the money by Western Union.
Marcy will have to show her ID
to pick up the cash.
We think she'll come here to collect it.
OK, no sign of her yet? Not yet.
We wait, and wait, and wait.
But Marcy doesn't show up.
So we ask our catfish
if we can speak to her directly.
He puts us in contact
with a woman he says is Marcy.
But it's just another lie.
Hello?
I contacted her, supposedly Marcy,
and then a Nigerian woman came on
the phone pretending to be Marcy.
So, yeah, it's clearly not Marcy.
Yeah, that's really strange.
Sounds like our catfish, Paul,
doesn't want us to speak to the
money mule in person,
and this stakeout is getting more surreal.
We've spent three days in Slippery
Rock, waiting for Marcy to appear.
And then we find out our money has
been collected
400 miles away in New York
by someone using Marcy's ID.
Her details are being
used to launder money,
but Marcy refuses to talk to us about it.
So I catch up with her as she's
heading to work. Marcy? Ms Krovak?
What do you want?! I have no idea
who this gentleman is.
I'm from the BBC's Panorama programme.
I've no idea who you are! I'd like
to talk to you about some money.
Do you know any fraudsters in Nigeria? No.
I've talked to a gentleman, but
I've never picked up money, nothing.
I can show you everything.
Can we see your messages?
Marcy has text messages from our catfish.
They show he wanted her
to pick up the cash we sent.
What does this one say? This one says,
"Marcy, I need you to get hold
of a fund at Western Union."
"It was sent in your name."
"Go straight to Western Union
and pick it up."
And then it says, "I'm not happy."
And I said, "What the
BLEEP is the money for?"
So this person asked you to pick up
money for him from Western Union?
Yeah, and I didn't.
It's confusing, because there's
such a thin line
between innocent victims and money mules.
Marcy gives us a credit card in her
name that the catfish sent her.
I've had it for probably
over a month or so.
He keeps asking me to go and get 1,000
in 100 increments as Amazon cards.
Catfish often use gift cards
to launder money.
But Marcy says she didn't buy any.
How long have you been speaking
to this person for? Since June.
Marcy agrees to meet me again
later the same day.
And in some texts, he calls you "honey".
It seems like you might be
in a relationship with him.
He thinks he's in a relationship.
Do you think you're in a
relationship with him? No.
She says she's been used
by our catfish too.
Did you not think it was suspicious,
someone sending you a credit card?
Yeah. Did you not go to the police?
No. Why not?
Just wasn't thinking, you know.
I'm very upset.
And very scared.
I never was going to touch
that card, never use that card,
and I never was going to go to Western
Union and pick that money up.
But now somebody has used my info
and gone and picked it up.
It was not me.
I did not do it.
Please find this person.
Marcy's out of her depth,
and I'm not sure she understands
what's been happening.
There's no doubt it's our catfish
who's really to blame.
And we think we have finally
tracked him down.
The data on one of his pictures has led
us to his real social media account.
His name is Daniel Joseph Okechukwu.
And this photo of him was taken here,
a small shopping area about 80 miles
from Lagos in Nigeria.
Our catfish used to run this barber
shop here in Ibadan.
He's even got a picture of
himself on the door.
But it's closed and we've been told
it's been shut for a few weeks now.
No-one here seems to know where he is.
We spend two days trying to find him
in the local area.
But in the end, the only
way we can get to him… Hi.
…Is by phoning as Kathryn Hunter again.
Mr Okechukwu? I'm from the BBC's
Panorama programme.
I've been looking for you.
You're a romance fraudster,
aren't you, Mr Okechukwu?
Why do you scam innocent people like this?
That's interesting, because
I've spoken to the real person
whose picture you're using.
Your name's Mr Okechukwu, isn't it?
Daniel Joseph Okechukwu.
That's you, and we're standing
outside your barber shop right now.
Are you an American soldier?
So why do you have a Nigerian accent?
I think you do.
You trick people into thinking
they're in love with you
and then you take their money, don't you?
It's all right, we can stop pretending now.
Why do you scam people out of money?
Why do you do it?
LINE GOES DEAD
And he's hung up.
Daniel Joseph Okechukwu later called
back and admitted he's a catfish.
He apologised and said he was only doing
it because his barber shop had failed.
And then he asked us for more money.
Roy has finally realised that his
last online girlfriend, Sherry,
was not all she seemed either.
Are things with Sherry finished now, Roy?
Yeah, it's…what's the point?
I think all Sherry is is
a… Just a money grabber.
Sherry isn't real, is she?
She's not a real person.
Oh, she's probably real and
one thing and another, but…
I think as far as I'm concerned,
she's not being truthful with me.
Today, he's got a date with a new
woman who contacted him online.
She's more in my age group as well.
He's convinced that this time,
she's for real.
Do you think, Roy, deep down,
that you're just looking for someone
to love, anyone?
Well, I don't know.
I just want somebody to
be with, to talk to.
I'm not, er…
Well, I'm not a brilliant catch.
And that's all there is to it.
Roy has lost everything to women
he's met online.
His new Hungarian girlfriend
is supposed to be arriving.
But Roy has waited in vain before.
Where are you?
I can see you.
Yeah.
I can see you.
Today, someone has actually turned up.
She's here, she's here.
All right, love?
And Elizabeth has even paid
for her own ticket.
OK? Yeah. Good.
This time seems to be different for Roy.
But there are so many lonely people
looking for love online.
And that means there will always be
more victims for catfish.