Shes the Woman Romance Scammers Love to Fake the Most

Who are these romance scammers, and whos the woman the scammers love to use to lure unsuspecting men? Lets get right to it with: 4 - Thats My Girlfriend Too! Florida-based former adult star, Janessa Brazil, has been the face of romance scams for over a decade. Scammers used photos and videos taken from her time in the adult entertainment industry to lure catfishing victims into romance scams. The

fraudsters would upload her image onto their fake online profiles and use it to prey upon unsuspecting individuals looking for love. Since the mid-2000s, Janessas face has appeared on over 100,000 social media accounts. In other situations, a model would be delighted to have their image shared worldwide. For Janessa, being used as bait for online scams dismantled her career. As the face of so many scams, her inboxes

were flooded with accusations from victims over lost money and ruined lives. As a victim herself, the situation took a massive toll on Janessas mental health and affected her marriage. And if you dont want to be a victim, we highly recommend our sponsored advertiser for todays video, Aura! One third of all Americans have experienced some form of identity theftthat means you have a higher likelihood of falling

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or click on the link in the description or comments section below! Now lets get back to Janessa and her story. Janessa resorted to drinking heavily before her shows until 2016, when she couldnt take it any longer and quit. She left her home and her marriage and ran away to pursue a new life. Love Janessa Love Janessa, a BBC podcast presented by investigative reporter Hannah Ajala, told

listeners about Janessas plight. Ajala traveled worldwide, from the UK, Italy, West Africa, and the United States. She examined how scammers hid behind Janessas face to steal huge sums of money, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. The podcast also featured Simon de Bruxelles, a fellow journalist who almost fell prey to a fraudster using Janessas images, causing him to investigate the case further. While the scammers lived around

the globe, many lived in West Africa. The BBC tracked down a Ghanaian group of fraudsters called the Sakawa Boys, where at least one admitted to impersonating Janessa online. The real Janessa was much harder to find than her fake personas, and it took the Love, Janessa podcast nine months to track her down. In her interview, she stated she removed her online presence in 2016 to prevent scammers

from taking more of her images. Decoyed Those that have fallen victim to scam artists using Janessas image branded her a modern Helen of Troy. In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy was the worlds most beautiful woman, and her abduction prompted the Trojan War. In Janessas case, fake profiles used her images to lure men into fake online relationships and manipulate them into parting with their hard-earned money. With

the damage the fake profiles caused, the real Janessa has been forced to take some of the blame. A court in Florida banned Janessa from posting anything on the internet after a man she had never met came forward to say that she convinced him to send her $2 million. The real woman behind the scandal is Vanessa, who used the alter-ego Janessa Brazil when she worked as a

camgirl. For about eight years, she streamed explicit content online, which her fans paid $20 per minute to watch. Her career grew into a successful brand; she had her own website and a strong online presence. At her peak, she earned around a million dollars annually. That was until her images and videos became bait. Fighting Back To provide justice for victims of Fake Janessa, Vanessa has been trying

to combat people pretending to be her. As well as her decision to stop making online content, she would respond to messages she received from victims to warn them that they had fallen for a catfishing scam. She avoided going to the police, fearing they wouldnt take her situation seriously. One of the fake Janessa victims was Roberto Marini, an Italian man in his early 30s. While he fell

for Janessas face, he thought he was speaking to a woman named Hannah. Three months into their relationship, Hannah began asking for money. At first, the requests were small, like needing cash to fix her phone. However, soon she was asking for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Marini was in love and wanted to help his online girlfriend, but hated that she never wanted to talk on the phone.

Eventually, he discovered that Hannahs images were of Janessa and that hed blown a significant amount of cash. In 2016, when she fled to start a new life, she hoped her absence would remove the scammers power to use her image for deception. Were relieved that weve actually been dating the real Janessa the whole time! 3 - Casanova Coombs For decades, serial conman David Coombs stole thousands of

dollars from his victims after befriending and seducing them. Many men and women fell for his charming ways, and his years of lies and deception earned him the nickname Casanova Coombs. Despite stealing significant money from people, Coombs claimed he hated living off their cash. And everyone believes him. Coombs blamed his low confidence for his crimes, claiming it compelled him to offend repeatedly. Coombs stated his behavior was

rooted in the belief he wasnt good enough for anyone, so apparently he thought stealing all their money would change that? One of Coombs victims, Carol-Anne, was drawn to Coombs after they became friends. She thought he was a genuine, caring man whom she trusted. Coombs claimed he knew of a place Carol-Anne could rent and requested she give him the money for the deposit so he could put

it down on her behalf. Carol gave him $621, but Coombs promptly spent it and never paid her back. Coombss life of crime caught up to him in 2017 when a judge sentenced him to four years in jail for multiple fraud offenses. Running Away Coombs served a portion of his sentence and was granted early release on license, meaning he had to follow certain conditions like regular meetings

with his community offender manager. According to Coombs, the meetings with his community offender manager made him anxious. So he did what most people with anxiety do: he ran away to Turkey and Russia, two places clearly known for their calming effect and chilled out vibes, and he stayed for two years. Coombs had started a relationship with a woman named Olga, whom he started messaging when he was

on license. Coombs claimed she tried to coerce him out of $2,500, but, as a career criminal, he knew her game. In response, Olga turned the situation around, blaming him and forcing him to confront the kind of person he was, which caused him to realize that he didnt want to be that person anymore. However, with Coombs skills of deception and manipulation, the accuracy of his version of

events was questionable. Aftermath His escape to Russia violated the terms of his license, resulting in the extension of his sentence. During Coombss parole hearing, the parole board heard from his victims and his community offender manager. After reviewing his case, the board rejected his request as they feared he was capable of bad behavior. The psychologist reviewing Coombs case described him as coercive and controlling, which were traits

he hadnt tried to fix, and stated he posed a high level of danger for coercing new victims. As a result of his absconding to Russia and fears of his behavior if he were to be released, the court extended his sentence in 2020. They should just send him back to Olga though. We know nothing about her, but we feel like shes a stout, short woman with a

slight mustache and a bad attitude. Olgas not someone to be trifled with. 2 - The Worst Boyfriend In the summer of 2018, Rachelle, a woman in her 70s nearing retirement, joined the dating website Our Time, where she met Nelson Roth. The pair shared an instant connection, and Nelson seemed to be falling in love with Rachelle. He would brag to her about his lavish lifestyle and multiple

homes. Within a few weeks of dating, Nelson organized a meeting with a high-end New York City broker to look into Connecticut real estate. However, he didn't attend the meeting and asked Rachelle to go in his place and not mention him. That request was just the beginning of his strange behavior. Soon, Rachelle was out tens of thousands of dollars to a man that was nothing of what

he seemed. Nelson created a strong perception of wealth. He presented himself as a well-connected, wealthy businessman, boasting about his expensive possessions and relationships with influential people. Nelsons apparent wealth lured his victims, which he used to gain their trust. But it was all an illusion, and his victims funded his extravagant lifestyle. Borrowed Nelson frequently borrowed money from those around him, especially Rachelle. Early in their relationship, Nelson

approached Rachelle in a distressed state, claiming he needed to make an important purchase. It was a Friday night, meaning his broker was inaccessible, and he wouldn't have the money in time for the transaction. Nelson just needed $7,000, which Rachelle didn't have that kind of money on hand, but her daughter, Julia, did. He promised to pay the money back on Monday, plus an extra $500. Julia was

already suspicious of her mother's new love interest and was furious that he asked to borrow money. She reluctantly handed over the cash but had a bad feeling about the situation. Nelson didn't have the money when Monday arrived and had a new excuse for the late repayment with every day that passed. When he claimed he had been in the hospital for heart problems, Julia called the hospital

to verify he was there. They told her they didn't have a patient named Nelson Roth, but he said they wouldn't have his information on hand as he was on a V.I.P. floor. Duh. Convinced her mother was being deceived, Julia didn't understand why Rachelle was still dating Nelson in November 2018. Her boyfriend, Nate, stole Nelson's cell phone one night after dinner and took it into the bathroom

to check his texts. A text exchange between Rachelle and Nelson revealed that Nelson owed Rachelle $60,000. Rachelle repeatedly asked for the money back, and Nelson became irate. Julia had no clue how much debt her mother was in and contacted a private investigator to find out who Nelson Roth truly was. The P.I. discovered that Roth's real name was Nelson Counne, a man convicted for grand larceny on

at least three occasions. Each time he was manipulating people into believing they were investing money in lucrative business deals. And Rachelle was far from his only victim. Personal trainer Kristie fell in love with the conman during the early 2000s and lost tens of thousands of dollars in the process. Television executive Ethel was out $250,000 due to Nelson, and he allegedly stole a diamond necklace and diamond

ring from a woman named Virginia Gregory. Art Collection In March 2023, at least five Manhattan women accused Nelson of stealing $1.8 million from them when he posed as a wealthy art collector and investor on his online dating profiles. Nelson allegedly convinced the women to invest in phony companies and used the money the women sent to repay previous victims to maintain his illusion of wealth, Ponzi style.

He used aliases like Nelson and Justin Roth, targeting lonely women he believed he could manipulate. As he did to his other victims, Nelson pitched investment opportunities early in the relationships, despite having none of the wealth or assets he claimed to have, like the homes in London and the South of France. Later, the women learned that the real Nelson didn't even have a passport. The investment opportunities

he presented to the women included a phony start-up he claimed to co-own with a former Google executive and the opportunity to invest in the Alibaba Group, a well-known Chinese multinational conglomerate. Nelson followed a pyramid scheme approach by using money from new investors to repay old investors while keeping a cut of the funds for himself. Nelson was arraigned on an indictment in the Manhattan Supreme Court and,

if convicted, faces significant jail time. Before we get to #1, if youre enjoying this video, be sure to stay for our past release about Rubbin Sarpong and how he scammed all his sugar mamas! 1 - Kofi Osei Romance Scammer Kofi Osei, a man from Massachusetts, catfished women on dating websites into sending him over $1 million.Between 2016 and 2019, Oseis victims sent over $4 million, with at

least three women sending over half a million each. He opened multiple accounts on online dating websites and used fake identities to open bank accounts. Once Osei received the funds from his victims, he would withdraw it in cash and use it to purchase cashiers checks or spend it on personal expenses. For a while, Osei posed as a man working on an overseas oil rig and used multiple

fake names to lure his victims. Once he established a relationship, he would claim he needed financial assistance for medical emergencies, legal problems, or accidents on the rig. He arranged to meet at least one of his victims in Florida but canceled the meeting, saying there was an explosion on the rig and he was in police custody in Dubai. Osei asked his stood-up victim for funds to pay

his attorney fees, to which the woman transferred $36,000 into his bank account. The same woman sent two wire transfers that totaled $125,000 to Osei, and hed spent almost $120,000 within three days. Osei took a total of $161,000 from the woman. Bottom Feeder For his next scam, Osei created a profile on the dating site Plenty of Fish, where he posed as a man named William Woodcox. He

targeted a woman from Montecito, California, and gained her trust by talking to her over email and telephone. Osei claimed he was working in France and that there was an accident at his workplace. He asked the woman to send him money to help out the injured, so she sent over $65,000. Osei used Plenty of Fish to create another profile under the name Harry Mikesell. This time he

targeted a woman from Bradenton, Florida, and told her he worked on a drilling platform in Houston, Texas. He convinced her to send him funds for drilling equipment and made her his power of attorney on his companys bank account in the Bahamas. Osei told her that the business account was frozen, and asked her to pay to unfreeze it. She ultimately sent him $270,565. In February 2021, authorities

searched Oseis residence and car, where they discovered fake identity documents under the names of several aliases. Osei opened over 40 bank accounts using at least seven aliases. Osei pleaded guilty to seven counts of making false statements to a bank, six counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering. Is it ironic that he catfished someone on Plenty Of Fish? Simple Trick Between January 2016 and

Sept of 2019, Rubbin Sarpong and his squad worked together to scam women in New Jersey and the surrounding area on online dating apps. His accomplices lived in Ghana, while he lived in the US. What he and team would do is set up fake dating profiles all over the place on various dating websites, such as Plenty of Fish, Okcupid, Tinder.. Sarpong would routinely hit up women on

online dating sites looking for romance. Whatever platform you could think of, he was on there messaging women. He would message and quickly sweet talk women looking for love. But then hed quickly turn the conversation into a promise of getting rich. It goes without saying that they would ALWAYS use a fake person identity. Sometimes theyd go through the trouble of making fake IDs as well. They also

had to set up numerous email addresses, numerous phone numbers, and numerous bank accounts. And most of the time, they posed as US military personnel stationed overseas. But why the military? Military Simply put its because of the fact that being in the military just makes things MUCH easier for scammers in general. Its actually quite smart for the scammers. The fact that military personnel are stationed outside the

US makes it easy for scammers to make up excuses why they dont have something a normal person would have when someone asks them questions. They can just blame everything on the fact that theyre overseas in the Military! Plus theres the whole secrecy thing they can play up with the government at play. Hundreds of times a day, women all over the world are being conned by scammers

posing as US service members. This is according to Chris Grey from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. They literally get hundreds of calls a day about dating scams! Most of the victims are women in the US. They mostly range from their late 30s to late 70s. Youd think that it would be someone whos dumb and uneducated. Nope! Grey says that education doesnt matter. Plenty of highly

educated people get scammed as well! .Mil Check According to Grey, theres one easy step to avoid getting scammed by a military impostor. Just ask to be sent an email from his or her military account ending in dot Mill. Grey says the scammers will do everything they can to get around this email check. Theyll just quickly make up another lie, such as saying theyre on a top

secret mission. Hotspots for online romance scams include Nigeria and other countries in West Africa. But today theres only a small number of personnel in the West African region. For example, fewer than 50 military and civilian employees and contractors are in Nigeria! Golden Play After Sarpong establishes some virtual sparks with the women, this is when the real work starts. He starts asking them for help in the

form of money! For Sarpong, gold was always involved. Sarpong would make up that money was needed for the purpose of paying to get gold bars into the US. The stories that Sarpong and his team use arent the same every time. They tailor it for each woman. Most of the time Sarpong would claim to be a soldier stationed in Syria. Hed say he either received, found, or

was awarded gold bars. Hes now rich, but he had a problem. He didnt have enough cash on hand to ship the gold bars himself. There were taxes to be paid, shipping fees, and other fake invoices that needed to be paid in order to get the gold to the US! Hed tell the women that their money would be returned once the gold bars were back to the

states, and of course, theyd get a lot more money back for their efforts! Lets get into some details with the scam. One unidentified and unfortunate lady well call Scammed Victim number 1 went back and forth with Sarpong. He told her that he was stationed in Syria and his unit had recovered MILLIONS of dollars worth of gold bars. He told this lady that he was given one

of the boxes of gold, and that box was worth $12 million dollars! Why do people fall for this? Has anyone heard of the military ever giving away gold bars to soldiers?! Anyways, Sarpong started asking her if she could help him get the bars back to the US once he knew she was hooked. And this is where Sarpong usually has the ladies talk to one of his

team members, just so they could build some trust in the ladies minds. Diplomat Lyss In this specific instance, someone on his squad posed as a diplomat named Alwin Rolf Lyss. He was supposed to help her help Sarpong with the transfer of the gold back to the US. This fake diplomat would have the perfect answer for every one of her questions. How come Lyss didnt have his

own US bank account? Because he wasnt a US citizen! So he had the victim wire her money to his secretarys bank account. He told her this was the account he used whenever he arranged gold deliveries for people! Of course, that bank account actually belonged to Sarpong. Even after the victim wired the money over, they would keep talking to her. Why would they do this? If they

found someone who would send money one time, why wouldnt they send money a second time? Or a third time? Or maybe a fourth time! The money just keeps coming until the women realize theyre getting scammed! Basically, theyre going for max value per scam here! A few days later, Fake Diplomat Lyss told Victim number 1 the good news. He would be flying from Syria to New York,

and then to Maryland with the gold. He emailed a copy of a fake airway bill that showed the two trunks with the quote "family treasure" that were being shipped to her. The fake airway bill had her address on it. They really tried to make it seem like she was getting the gold! He was listed as the delivery agent. But there was one problem. There would be

extra costs! Lyss also attached a copy of a fake United Nations Identity Card that showed that he was an Israeli citizen and an official delivery agent for the UN. Also he told her, that way, she would recognize him when she picked him up at the airport! From approximately May 22, 2018 to June 12, 2018, Sarpong and his scam team successfully scammed almost 94 thousand dollars from

this particular lady running this usual military play! Alternatives But Sarpong didnt always go after women, and he didnt always use the military. He went after at least 1 man! Sarpong pretended to be a lady who was living in Florida in one instance. Sarpong played a lady who was waiting on a large inheritance that was mostly in gold from her dads estate in Ghana. Because whos dad

wouldnt have their assets mostly in gold?! Well call this guy Scammer Victim #2, or number 2 for short. Sarpong told Number 2 an attorney named Mumuni Muhammad was helping her get her inheritance to the US. But she needed funds in order to cover the court costs, airway bills, document fees, export fees, and taxes! Shes now rich, but she just didnt have cash on hand. Their scam

is just a spin off the Nigerian Prince scam right? Muhammad had instructed number 2 to wire the money to Sarpong, who Muhammad would refer to as one of his sons in New Jersy. And when number 2 asked why his son had a different last name, he would just make up a different lie! You would think these scammers would be extremely careful, but theyre really not. They

make up a lot of sophisticated sounding lies, but they still make mistakes on the fly. But what helps them also is just the little glimmer of hope for love and money from the victim! Muhammad ended up making up the excuse that Sarpong was someone who used to work for him and that he misspoke. This guy still sent the money anyway. All for the hope of even

more money coming back along with getting to help someone who he thinks is a real woman! #2 eventually wired a little over THREE HUNDRED thousand dollars to Sarpong and his team! Split Of the roughly $2.1 million dollars that they were able to scam out of people, about 40 percent went to Sarpong and the remaining money went to the rest of the team. So what did Sarpong

do with HIS portion? If you check out Sarpongs instagram, he was definitely desperate for attention. You can just tell that he wanted the world to know that he was living it up. He craved that validation of a successful business man. The funny thing is that no one really paid attention. None of his posts have that many likes. Ultimately he did these scams and made some money.

Instead of saving the money, and trying NOT to get caught, here he was blowing the money on random frivolous things and posting it online! Its like he ALMOST wanted to get caught! Investigators eventually caught on to Sarpong and his team. They said that he was the ringleader of the international operation that scammed over 30 women. He was charged in federal court with just a single count

of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. And he was the only one actually charged, because everyone else was international. Heres the craziest thing. He actually asked a judge to assign him to a public defender. Why? Because he claimed he didn't have enough money to pay for a lawyer! Click to watch one of these next videos! Let us know in the comment section whats an easier scam to

fall for in your opinion, a romance scam, or a phishing scam?