How romance scam victims become unwitting accomplices

Tonight, we continue our CBS News investigation into the growing wave of online romance scams. s Jim Axelrod reports on a sinister new twist when the victims themselves become accomplices. My mom was actually very specific about wanting to do online dating, and it felt safer. Online dating felt safer. If it wasn’t painful enough that Kelly GAO’s mother, Laura Kowal, was scammed out of one and a half million dollars, then found dead in the Mississippi River. When Kelly started investigating what happened, she discovered her mom’s role in something criminal. She got so deep into this scam, and when she tried getting out of it, she became what is known in these scams as a money mule. They got her hooked into it. Laura wasn’t alone. My name is Glenda. It’s the latest scammer tactic, now so widespread that federal agents have broadcast warnings. Police officers told me that my love was a scam. This feels like it moves to a whole other level of sinister. They use victims till the end. Retired Postal Inspector Natalie Rita investigated cases where victims fell so hard for their scammers, they’d do anything they were told, like depositing other victims money in their accounts to launder it and stay one step ahead of the authorities. At first, the victims might not have realized they were committing a crime. They checked their reasoning at the door. Kelly says her mom opened bank accounts, created fake corporations, and even set up phony dating profiles for the scammers. Could your mom have been compromised and actually been working for these guys? I believe so. At the time of her death, police said Kelly’s mom, Laura, was actually under investigation for money laundering. Federal agents had traced some of the money Laura unwittingly sent to scammers to Chicago and arrested this woman, Jennifer Gosha, along with two Nigerian nationals for alleged involvement in romance fraud. While prosecutors say Gosha was an active participant, she has pleaded not guilty and told us she too was a money mule duped by one of the Nigerians and says she never made a nickel. It wasn’t like a Ding, Ding, Ding, something’s wrong. Gosha says she dated one of the Nigerians in real life, but he operated behind her back. I served an Iraqi war. I raised my children. I am not someone who decides after all I’ve accomplished in my life now I’m going to become a criminal mastermind. If I’m going to come up with the scheme, it’s not going to be this dumbass scheme. If convicted, Gosha could face up to 30 years in prison. Do you ever think to yourself, I played a part in someone’s life being raped? I have thought that many, many times. And I didn’t play a part in it knowingly. You’re saying you’re a victim of the scammers as well. I’m absolutely a victim, but I And you’re a victim who may end up doing time and only because they feel like I should have known. As for Kelly GAO, her thought is simple. Someone has to pay and I have so much anger towards they took everything away from her and I. My family will never get that time back. Wow, eye opening, disturbing. Jim, where does your investigation go now? Well Maurice, law enforcement tells us that the explosion of romance scams is tied directly to the increased popularity of online dating apps. They are, after all, a target rich environment for scammers. So tomorrow we’ll dive much more deeply into that on CBS MORNINGS. That’s must see. Jim, thank you.