Media sociopaths

Love fraud is the theme of the latest true crime podcast created by ABC (Australia). Snowball tells the story of the fast-talking, charismatic California woman, Lezlie Manukian, who seduced, married and then swindled Greg Wards, a young man from New Zealand, and his family. The story was investigated by Ollie Wards, Greg's brother, who traveled the world to interview people who knew, and in some cases were also defrauded by, the seductive predator. In 2006, Ollie’s brother Greg was backpacking in London when he fell head-over-heels in love with Lezlie. They set up a new life in New Zealand, but only months after their showy wedding, things turned sour. Lezlie vanished from Greg’s …

Podcast: California con woman defrauds her Kiwi husband and his familyRead More

Last week the FBI charged 80 people, mostly Nigerian con artists,  with allegedly running a massive fraud ring that targeted businesses, the elderly and people looking for love online. Fourteen people were arrested in the United States. Eleven were in the Los Angeles area, including the ringleaders, Valentine Iro, 31, and Chukwudi Christogunus Igbokwe, 38, who are Nigerian nationals residing in California. Most of the other people named in the indictment are in Nigeria. The suspects allegedly perpetrated both romance scams and business fraud. Many of the romance scam victims were elderly. One Japanese woman believed she was sending money to a U.S. Army captain stationed in Syria. …

Feds break up $46 million romance scam and business fraud ring based in California and NigeriaRead More

John Looker was the face of the Peletonia bike-a-thon in Ohio. He rode every year, helping to raise millions of dollars, while suffering stage four terminal brain cancer. Or so he said. He was first featured as the face of the Pelatonia event in 2011. He continued riding and raising money. He became a cult figure. He did not die. He did not even lose weight. Friends and acquaintances wondered how he did it. The answer was simple. He was lying about the brain cancer. Looker claimed that he did it because he was diagnosed as "manic depressant and bipolar." But maybe he's lying about that too. He was the face of a bike-a-thon to fight cancer. He was also a fake, on …

Fake brain cancer patient busted by friendsRead More

Joe Nocera, a seasoned business journalist, bought a house in Southampton, New York, in 2010. He thought his next door neighbor was a psychiatrist from New York, Dr. Isaac "Ike" Herschkopf. Another man, Marty Markowitz, who lived in the house, seemed to be a caretaker. Except that Marty Markowitz actually owned the house, and for nearly 30 years, the psychiatrist had taken over his life. Herschkopf separated Markowitz from his family. Herschkopf became the co-signer on his patient's million-dollar Swiss bank account. The psychiatrist threw lavish, star-studded parties in Markowitz' home, with the owner acting like a waiter, pouring drinks and cleaning up after the guests. Nocera …

Shrink Next Door: Like a cult leader, psychiatrist takes over his patient’s lifeRead More

Today I received an alert on my iPad from Facebook. It said, Donna, we made a video of you and your friends. Huh? So I click the link, and there's another message: The Moments That Bring Us Closer Donna, today we're celebrating the everyday things that bring friends like yours together. We hope you enjoy your video! Beneath this is a video of some random people whom I definitely do not know building some fabric contraption that I couldn't identify. Superimposed on this are my Facebook photos, displaying one after the other. Then another random video of people I don't know. When I finally found the sound button, there was music I never heard of playing throughout the video. I was …

Facebook made a video of me without my permissionRead More

Most criminals specialize. They're drug runners, or they're car thieves, or they're credit card fraudsters, etc. One of the indicators of a psychopath, however, is "criminal versatility." That means psychopaths engage in all kinds of crime. A Lovefraud reader sent me a story, and "criminal versatility" seems to apply. Christopher Endicott, of Dakota County,  Minnesota, was sentenced last week for stalking, burglary and identity theft. According to KARE11 in Minnesota, Endicott said in court, "I don't pretend that what I did makes sense, even to me. There is no excuse for my actions." Here's what Endicott, a former principal, did, according to KARE11: Broke into his neighbors' …

Stalking, burglary, identity theft — all by one criminalRead More

The Observer recently ran a story about Daniel Spence, a sociopathic con artist (although the article didn't identify him as a sociopath). Read it here: The Grindr Grifter, on Observer.com. It's a good and well-written description of how a sociopathic con artist works: Spence, originally from Texas but most recently operating in hipster Brooklyn, made outrageous claims of wealth and power, flaunting the money he acquired by defrauding friends and lovers. Here are some instructive highlights: 1 . Yes, sociopaths operate in the gay community. Spence appeared to be gay, and targeted gay men. However, he may or may not have been authentically gay, because the sexual orientation of …

Daniel Spence, gay fake millionaire, scams friends, family, lovers and strangersRead More

Here we go again — another online love fraud case. John Martin Hill was arrested in Tennessee last week, accused of taking $80,000 from a Georgia woman he met on Match.com. But apparently, she was just the most recent victim. Police in Gwinnett County, Georgia, are talking to detectives in four other states — Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey — about dating scams he allegedly pulled there as well. Hill had convinced the Georgia woman that he was a millionaire and in love with her. On the day they met in person, they agreed to get married within the week. The woman gave him $80,000, and Hill disappeared. Man accused in online love scam connected to crimes in multiple states, …

John Martin Hill scams woman for $80,000 – just his latest love fraud victimRead More