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Convinced he was taking an X-ray via the phone, as instructed by who he thought was a police officer, the student posed topless, blindfolded and gagged, while on a video call. The 21-year-old believed he was speaking to a police officer from China, who had told him there was an outstanding warrant against him for money laundering offences. But the "officer" was actually a scammer, who then sent a recording of the student blindfolded and gagged to his parents in China, demanding they pay a ransom of 6 million yuan ($1.2 million). The scammers had contacted the student earlier this...

Anna Sorokin, a woman who once pretended to be a wealthy German heiress named Anna Delvey to swindle friends and banks out of tens of thousands of dollars, is out of prison. After serving nearly four years, she was released on parole Thursday from the Albion Correctional Facility in upstate New York, according to Department of Corrections records. In April 2019, Sorokin, 30, was convicted by a Manhattan jury on four counts of theft services, three counts of grand larceny and one count of attempted grand larceny. She was acquitted of grand larceny and attempted grand larceny, according to The...

Emirati woman told to pay to expel jinn gripping her daughter so she can marryA woman claiming to be an exorcist embezzled more than Dh4 million from an Emirati woman telling her that her daughter would not be able to marry because she was gripped by jinn (spirits), a newspaper reported on Sunday. Worried for her daughter for not getting married despite her growing age, the Emirati woman was told by one of her daughter’s acquaintances that she could take the girl to a friend who can identify her problem and solve it. A few days later, that woman told...

The Army's version of NCIS is warning about a particularly disturbing online scam that's taking advantage of lonely women with big hearts for U.S. servicemen in need. The Army Criminal Investigation Command says con artists are trolling social and dating Web sites, pretending to be U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Some of the crooks take the rank and name of a legitimate soldier and use random photos to build a believable profile. Once they hook someone, their method is to woo the woman and then ask for money for such things as a laptop computer, an international cell...

Dear Friend, I'm very sorry if I am in anyway disturbing your privacy with my Proposal, I write you my proposal with the tears in my heart and the saddest thing that would happen to someone of my age in same day by losing two important thing in my life for just one day which are my parents and I pray may the good Lord keep their soul in peace for me. I will really appreciate it if you could treat my proposal to you as urgent as I really needs your help toward this my proposal. I am using...

When 96 people from China arrived at Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei after paying hundreds of dollars to compete in a music contest offering big cash prizes, they soon discovered they'd been swindled. A con artist had faked invitations from the city of Taipei, pocketed the contest entry fees and abandoned the "contestants" at the airport when they arrived in mid-February. Some of the musicians were so angry that they refused to return home. Such scams are expected to increase in Asia, particularly greater China, as the economic downturn motivates swindlers to prey on the down-and-out looking for a change...

Hard time for $2m scammerA Nigerian 419er was last Friday jailed for 376 years by a Lagos court for "stealing, forgery, impersonation and conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences" contrary to the Advance Fee Fraud Act, the Nigerian Daily Independent reports. Harrison Odiawa, 38, aka Abu Belgori, managed to extract $1,939,710 from US national George Robert Blake on the promise of a percentage of a bogus $20.45m Ministry of Health contract. The classic advance fee scam saw a duped Blake transfer the "advance payments" after seeing forged documents - including a certificate of registration with the Corporate Affairs Ministry...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A mother and son were each sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for murdering a businessman, five years after the two grifters received an identical sentence for the murder of a wealthy New York widow. The judge called the mother, 71-year-old Sante Kimes, "one of the most evil individuals" she has encountered. Kimes was convicted in 2004 of first-degree murder in the death of David Kazdin, whose body was found in a trash bin near Los Angeles International Airport in 1998. Her son, Kenneth Kimes, pleaded guilty to the murder in 2003 and testified...