Offshore Workers
Offshore workers, marine engineers, contractors for oil rig maintenance (and other similar titles), are all professions in this field used by scammers.
Much like the military, little is known about the professions here unless you have family or friends who are employed for this work.
One of the reasons the fraudsters like this, is because it means that they can twist reality to suit their narrative and being away from ‘home’ means that they can pull off lots of situations which make the ask of exploiting money seem more reasonable. These fraudsters will claim that they are contracted to be ‘on the rig’ for months on end, not being able to leave until the work is completed for safety reasons. This of course means that they have an excuse not to be able to meet quicky. The scenarios can be from two perspectives; one where the character is simply ‘an employee’ and the other where they play the character of the ‘boss’ who is the contractor in charge of the rig’s running.
Offshore workers are only on rigs for a maximum of 3 weeks, depending on the type of work they are there for. The more physical the work, the less time. However much time they are on the rig, is mirrored with their time off before the rota starts again.
The same emotional manipulation is used as with all other romance fraud. You can read about it here.
When the trust has been set, the excuses of need for help will begin.
- One of the ways they exploit money is by declaring that they have to pay for wifi and data to be able to chat or to make video calls (if the criminal is trained in making these fake video calls), but are having problems with online banking while on the rig. The victim at this point, will want to keep communication going, so can be manipulated to send gift cards, such as Apple Gift cards where the criminals can convince the victim that these can be redeemed to fund the data.
The same excuse can be used when asking for a card to buy video games to play together or other reasons.
Oil rigs have some of the fastest high speed data, freely available to the employees on the rig. They do not need gift cards for data or any other reason. Everyone is allowed to use video calls, normal calls and games while off duty.
2. Another common story used in this format, is that the character needs help to fund transport to come home for leave. They will have built up the story over some time to have the victim hopeful that they will meet soon. At the last minute, there will be an issue and they will ask for help to arrange transport. This is also when new characters are brought in to the cast of the story. Transport companies, namely helicopter operators will be suggested to contact. It is here that pilots and captains can also be used as part of the fraud.
Oil rig companies have their own transport to take employees to and from rigs. No employes need to arrange their own transport for any reason. Emergencies would be covered under company insurance and not the responsibility of the employee. Companies also cover transport costs from the employees home to the helicopter site if needed.
3. While the character is living life on the rig and keeping the connection going with the victim, there will be new traumas or difficulties that occur. One of those traumas are accidents that occur on the rig which can be catastrophic when machinery is involved. The criminals will claim that they need to pay for medical treatment for themselves, a close friend/colleague, or if playing the character of a contractor in charge of the rig, for employees. The criminals will have stacks of pictures or videos ready to back up the claims. They will have invoices and other paperwork ready to show as evidence of what they are saying. It is here that doctors may also be used as part of the fraud.
Companies always have insurance to cover these kinds of emergencies and rigs also have medical professionals on site should anyone need help.
4. Contracts
Following on from the accident due to faulty machinery or simply that the machinery has broken (which may have the fraudster declaring that a claim will be able to reimburse any loaned money), they will explain that the equipment needs replacing so that the contract can be completed. This type of machinery is incredibly costly. The fraud will tell similar stories as with other formats where contracts are concerned. They will claim that they have managed to raise the majority of the money but need to find the final 10% or so to fund the replacement machinery.
The criminals may have already introduced the victim to a bank account login page which shows that the character has plenty of money to fulfill the work they are doing, possibly asking the victim to make a transfer for them as they are too busy and of course, the victim is trusted. They may also have sent fake notifications where an unusual login attempt has arrived on their device after instructing the victim to do so. Later down the line, this can be used as the reason the online banking has been blocked.
The victim is now faced with a time pressured decision to make, so that the person they are in love with doesn’t lose the money for the dream they have been building and also the completion of the project which would bring the character home. There may also be feelings of guilt that they did something wrong when logging in to the account which has caused the issue in the first place. In some victim’s frauds, the fake bank websites (often cloned with real details) will have ‘contact us’ information and the victims may be directed to try and sort out the problem as it was their device details that logged in. The ‘bank staff’ will respond and tell the victim that unfortunately the account owner will need to go in branch to unfreeze the account.
As with other formats, this won’t be the end of the difficulties. Other asks may come from a child in trouble or a nanny or boarding school. Another way they might attempt to get money is through the package scam (aka the consignment scam).
5. The package Scam
The package scam is where the criminal will tell the victim that they are sending some important documents and/or gifts to the victim from the place of their current residence.
As with all package scams, the victim will have other characters brought into the cast, this time that of the courier and/or a customs official. In the case of the shipping agent or courier, the characters will send emails to the victim with notifications. This is also the part of the story where other fake websites are created to mimic that of the courier company and the tracking number sent in the email can be loaded into the website, the package can then be tracked as it makes it’s journey. Once at the destination point, the victim will be contacted by customs, this can be via email or a phone call if the criminals have employed a worker (or blackmailed another victim), to impersonate this department where the voice on the end of phone will be the local language. The victim will be informed that there are import taxes due to be paid on the package before it can be released for delivery. If the victim challenges the cost of these taxes with the scammer, they will declare that there is cash in the box to cover the cost when it is delivered.
6. Inheritance Scams
Inheritance scams can be stand alone scams in other fraud but are used in many scammer scenarios for romance fraud and the military is one of them.
Once trust has been built and the relationship secured, the scammer will discuss with the victim that they have had notice that a distant family member or friend has died and that they are listed as the beneficiary. There will be a problem that they are unable to conduct the necessary legal requirements whilst they are on deployment in another county and that inheritance laws there would mean a risk to the payments (or a similar scenario). The victim, as the only trusted contact, will be asked to deal with the lawyers to sort out the estate.
There can be two scenarios here. One is that the scammer asks the victim to open a bank account so that the funds can be deposited and kept safe while the military personnel is on deployment. This is one way in which scammers create a story so that they can use the victim as an unwitting money mule. Criminals need ways to launder money and romance fraud victims are used to do just this. The money is safe, as the victim believes they are in a relationship and this money has been sold as helping to secure their life together.
The other scenario is that the victim, when communicating with ‘the lawyer’, will be told that there is an inheritance tax to pay to get the funds released. Stuck on deployment, the scammer cannot access funds to sort this problem, so the victim is asked to comply with the request in order for the inheritance to be released.
Other financial exploitations may happen in this format depending on the criminals in question. You can find other ways these fraudsters exploit money here.