TikTok
A man who claims to be a military doctor and multi-millionaire from the USA has allegedly scammed three women on TikTok for over R100 000.
Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) says two single mothers and a divorcee approached them for help earlier this month stating that the man was en route to South Africa to marry them but got stuck at various airports in Africa.
According to the women they met the man on TikTok who would compliment them on their videos before striking up a conversation.
All three women, who do not know each other, prepared for the man's arrival at King Shaka International Airport in Durban.
According to RUSA the man told his victims that he was deployed to Syria, Afghanistan, Kabul and Istanbul in Turkey.
Over the past few weeks, he informed the women that he planned on leaving Turkey to get married in South Africa.
RUSA said in a statement they tried convincing the women that they were being scammed but two of the three refused to believe it and continued talking to the stranger.
Modus Operandi
The man who identified himself as Howard Chesser (@Chesser205) approached each woman for cash explaining that his card had over 60 million US Dollars that were frozen by the United States Military
Hours later he informed the woman that he was detained at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya and needed more money to bribe Border Control Police when they discovered that his passport had expired.
The women paid several thousand Rand into his Bitcoin Account.
Earlier this week the man contacted the women again, informing them that he was kept without food at various airports in Africa and could not contact them.
He led them to believe that he had finally sorted matters and was heading to Durban to finalise wedding arrangements.
Both single mothers were promised electronic gifts for their children.
On Friday, two of the women contacted the RUSA Operations Center seeking advice after the man requested more money for a Covid-19 test and several pints of blood that would cost thousands of Rands.
He blamed the women for his detention and his health issues that required urgent blood transfusion.
RUSA says the divorcee paid R4000 and was later informed that her future husband was not being released after a laboratory at King Shaka International Airport was holding him until more monies were paid.
The women were eventually convinced that they were scammed after Reaction Officers called the SAPS at the airport who confirmed that no such laboratory existed at the Airport and no person with the provided details was being held in custody.
A quick search on the internet showed the account linked to that of an Instagram account for Dr Giulio Giammarioli.
