Trapped in a Romance Scam

Modern Love

The New York Times

Love, New York Times, Nytimes, Essay, Loss, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Redemption, Nyt

4.3 • 9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2021

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last spring, Michael McAllister’s inbox started filling up with messages from heartbroken women. “I thought you were the man,” one wrote. “Embarrassing, but I kinda became obsessed with ‘you,’” another said. Michael discovered that his photos were being used to catfish women on dating apps — from Germany to Brazil to Chicago. Today’s story explores a global dating scam (that’s still going on, by the way) and the pandemic-fueled loneliness of digital life. Also, we hear from two women who were duped by Michael’s impostor. One of them shares a trick for determining whether or not a dating prospect is real.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love now into your phone, love, love.
0:05.0	Love is stronger than anything.
0:08.0	You have to go love, love.
0:09.0	And I love you more than anything.
0:12.0	You're smart.
0:14.0	From the New York Times, I'm Mealy.
0:16.0	And I'm Dan Jones.
0:18.0	This is the Modern Love Podcast.
0:20.0	Today's essay loops in people from Hungary to Brazil to Chicago.
0:26.0	Right, and it takes place near the beginning of the pandemic when people were isolated
0:31.0	and they were feeling just, you know, especially vulnerable and alone and reaching out.
0:36.0	And reaching out the only way that they could, which was on the internet.
0:40.0	Yeah.
0:42.0	The essay is called How I Got Caught Up in a Global Romance Scam.
0:47.0	It's written by Michael McAllister and read by Eric Martin.
0:58.0	This past spring, my inboxes began filling with messages from heartbroken women.
1:05.0	The first came through Instagram.
1:07.0	Hey, I'm Lena.
1:10.0	I live in Germany.
1:11.0	Someone is using your pictures for scamming.
1:15.0	Her profile revealed a woman who looked to be near my age, late 40s, wearing black-framed glasses.
1:23.0	She told me she had met the guy on Tinder.
	...

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