According to foreign media reports on February 13, Sharon Bulmer, a woman from Manchester, England, was defrauded of 80,000 pounds (about 800,000 yuan) by a scammer who claimed to be Murphy Townsend, and left her partner for 29 years for him. Two years ago, in May 2020, this Murphy messaged Sharon on Facebook for the first time. Sharon said: "He said at the time that he was an American soldier serving in Syria, his wife died, he felt very lonely, just trying to find someone to talk to. ”
However, Sharon also contacted the relevant US agencies at the beginning to inquire about the real identity of Murphy. The other party clearly informed Sharon that there was no "Murphy Townsend" in the record. Later, Murphy confused Sharon with a picture of Latvia's defense minister, Artis Pabriks, saying he needed a sum of money to leave Syria. Sharon, 51, believed Murphy's lies, "He turned to me and I helped him." Over time, I've fallen deeply in love with this person, but I've also fallen into huge debts myself. I really wanted to help him so much, knowing that I had been stupid, and it was all reckless for love. ”
In August 2020, in order to "start a new life" with Murphy, Sharon ended her 29-year relationship with her partner. In September of the same year, Murphy demanded 1,400 pounds (about 14,000 yuan) from Sharon, saying it was money for a plane ticket to Manchester, and asked her to pay through virtual currency. In the two and a half years since, Sharon has paid nearly £80,000 for various "hospital bills" and "airfare", including £37,000 (about 370,000 yuan) in borrowings.
Sharon, the team leader of the local COVID-19 field command in the UK, has never made a video call with Murphy despite paying a lot of money — because Murphy said that his work restrictions do not allow video chat. Sharon, who is still suffering from being cheated, said: "I wanted to take the kids on vacation, I was going to Go to New York last year, but Murphy kept asking for money, where there was still money for vacation." ”
Latvia's Defense Office said there were scammers who had used photos of the minister and that they had received more than 100 reports. A spokesperson said: "Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case, we have spent a long time dealing with such incidents. The victim sent us a screenshot of the scammer's contact information, and so far there have been more than 100 scammers. Meanwhile, Sharon drums up to share her story, hoping to prevent others from being deceived like her.