Numerous women deceived Swiss marriage fraudster swindles thousands of francs

He swindled several women out of thousands of francs. The scam of the "marriage swindler": approaching women who were in a difficult phase of their lives.

Marriage swindlers are the name given to the type of fraudsters who trick their victims into believing they have a romantic future, but are ultimately interested in their money. The phenomenon, which is often treated with humor in films and novels, is neither romantic nor particularly funny.

"Marriage swindling" - even the term seems trivializing - can have a devastating effect on the victims, both materially and psychologically. As in the case of a young woman whose fate and that of other victims has now been reported by Blick.

"I had just been through difficult relationships with guys who didn't behave properly. I no longer had much self-confidence," says Mélissa in an interview with Blick. Mélissa is in her mid-20s, but doesn't go by that name.

Like the other victims of the scammer - a man in his mid-30s called "Solo Daddy" - she willingly tells her story, but wishes to remain anonymous. "When this single father told me he wanted to build a serious and stable relationship, I just gave it a try without being suspicious. We had a lot in common," she says.

Typical behavior of the perpetrator

Here are the victims, in this case women who have had a "difficult relationship" or are going through a difficult phase in their lives. Then there's the scammer, in this case a man who uses dating apps to trick the victim into believing that meeting and having a relationship with him will change their life for the better.

And finally, the shame of having fallen for the scammer's scam. "I feel so stupid when I tell this story," Mélissa is quoted as saying. "I feel like I was the protagonist in a bad Netflix series."

As typical as Mélissa's situation and behavior are, the perpetrator's actions are exemplary. "He has a talent for arousing empathy," says the woman. Not only did the perpetrator obviously have this gift, he was apparently also able to tell the women a coherent, self-contained and therefore credible lie about his life. He liked to present himself as a victim of circumstances.

He pretended to Mélissa that he was going through a bad phase. His business had failed, his father was traveling the world, he no longer spoke to his mother and his ex was demanding child support payments for their son. "That really moved my mother and me," admits Mélissa.

"I felt sorry for her"

"Most of the time, the perpetrator was after money, which he asked the women for under false pretenses and feelings. In Melissa's case, it was several thousand francs. "He was in a panic. He was afraid of losing custody of his son if he didn't pay the maintenance soon," she says.

"I felt sorry for him, I lent him 2,000 francs and also paid his phone bill." Then the man needed a bike for a bike race. Melissa: "I advanced the sum of 5,200 francs to buy an electric bike and also paid his rent. He was afraid he would be kicked out."

Numerous victims

When the fraud came to light, Mélissa was devastated. A friend told her about the man's foul play. She explained that two charges of domestic violence had been filed against him and that he had already been convicted of romance fraud. She then broke off contact.

She found out that there was a WhatsApp group made up of women who were all victims of the man. Else, Marine, Laurence, Vanessa - all women who were in a "difficult" phase of their lives, single or single parents. And whom the "marriage swindler" had mostly - and this is also a pattern - met on social networks or dating apps.