A woman who featured in a fake news video used to dupe a woman out of half a million dollars is actually an actor from the UK who recorded around 30 videos for those responsible for the scam, thinking they were being used to help people with their English.
On Sunday, Stuff revealed a New Zealand woman, Joanne*, had lost $540,000 in a scam from a man she met on Tinder named Dale Plumides.
As part of the elaborate scam, those responsible sent Joanne a fake news video showing a woman, purporting to be a presenter discussing the Shindagha Bridge in Dubai, saying the construction was carried out by Plumides’ construction company.
“Dale Plumides Construction company is owned by an American from California who is now living in New Zealand,” the presenter said.
READ MORE:
* How a ‘prince charming’ Tinder swindler conned a woman out of $540k
* ‘Prince Charming’ Tinder swindler targeted Kiwi women for years
* There are bad dates and then there’s The Tinder Swindler: Anatomy of a romance nightmare
Stuff has been able to identify the presenter as London actor Laura Cornelius. Cornelius has worked mainly as an actor as well as a presenter travelling poker circuits interviewing players.
She has also done some presenting for Sky and BBC in the UK.
SUPPLIED
Laura Cornelius is an actor from the United Kingdom who unwittingly helped a Tinder swindler.
She was “completely shocked and disgusted”, when Stuff emailed her on Monday night with a link to the article which showed the fake news video.
“I was like ‘oh my gosh, I’ve helped a criminal’,” she said.
“I’m completely against this, I think it’s terrible.”
Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@stuff.co.nz
Cornelius, who does freelance presenting and voiceover work on freelance marketplace website Fiverr, said she had done about 30 videos for the client since 2018.
She had a green screen at her home, and would read the script she was given. The client then organised someone else to edit the video. She was paid about US$1000 for the 30 videos.
MARK TAYLOR / STUFF
Joanne* lost about $540,000 in a Tinder swindle.
Some of the videos involved the same script, but a different person’s name. She had made several videos about the Shindagha Bridge.
The video used by Plumides was filmed about six months ago.
“I’m trying to work out what their role in this is. You don’t know who is working for who.
“But I remember speaking with them. It must’ve been years ago, and I asked them what they use the videos for, and they said it was to do with learning English.”
The client said his own client was a “visual learning institution”. They said the video was “not for public consumption”.
Laura Cornelius/Stuff
Those responsible for the fake video told Laura Cornelius the video was for a visual learning institution.
She did not believe English was the first language of those who wrote the scripts, and she often had to change the grammar because it was not grammatically correct.
The client’s account, with the username megdonback, said they were based in the United States.
Megdonback left a review for Cornelius in which they said: “very satisfactory delivery, will order again”.
During the Covid-19 lockdown the website “took off”, and Cornelius said she was able to make a lot of money.
SUPPLIED
The Tinder swindler used several photos of this man, who he said was Dale Plumides. The real identity of the man in the photos hasn’t been ascertained.
“It’s quite concerning now, but obviously most of the work I do I’m hoping is completely legit. But you just never know do you?”
She said she was “incredibly sorry” to anyone who had been conned through the videos.
“I had absolutely no idea that my work was being used for something of this nature. I would hate to be associated with anything of this type of fraud, and I’m really sorry.”
Cornelius has since reported the client to Fiverr’s customer services team.
Since Stuff’s first article, several other women have come forward with their own stories of being targeted by those behind the scam.
One woman, who lives in Auckland, matched with a Dale Plumides on Tinder in August 2021.
The conversations started on Tinder, before Plumides told her he did not like typing on his phone, and could they switch to email.
However, in his first email he called her Mary, which is not her name. She asked if he sent it to the wrong person.
Plumides responded that he had “got the name wrong”.
However, after he sent her his bio (which was the same he sent the other women), she became more suspicious.
Getty/Thomas Trutschel/Photothek
The alleged scammer emailed the same woman twice under two different names.
“I just stopped emailing him back because it didn’t ring true. It sounded too good to be true.”
Then, in December, the woman matched with someone named Alan Caston. He too asked for her an email address. When he sent her his bio alarm bells started ringing.
“I thought this sounds really familiar and was sitting there thinking, ‘I’m sure I had an email from another guy’.
“So I started going through my Gmail account and I came across it … it was virtually an identical email.”
The two websites he used also looked “identical”, she said.
She then emailed Alan:
“Hello Alan/Dale, So much for honesty. You can’t even be original when you lie.”
On Saturday, police told Joanne her case was “closed”, and would be held by police pending any additional information.
However, on Sunday, they emailed to say her case had been forwarded for further assessment.
“If further steps are able to be taken with your case, an officer will be in contact.”
Private investigator John Borland, who is looking into Joanne’s scam, said there was a “criminal pattern emerging” with the other women’s experiences.
SUPPLIED
Private investigator John Borland believes multiple people are behind the online dating scam.
“It’s clearly a well-planned and pre-meditated approach whereby they are building rapport by asking typical questions such as ‘favourite colour, favourite food, likes/dislikes’ – all the normal stuff you expect to see on dating app conversations.”
Borland earlier said he believed those behind the operation lived offshore, with connections in New Zealand.
“There’s no standalone offender. There are multiple offenders – a pseudo-ring.
“There’s been lengthy communications and multiple parties involved in it. It’s quite obvious that it’s just not one person … it’s too large of a scale and I think the volume defrauded is too high.”
Tips to avoid being scammed
Source: CERT NZ, Banking ombudsman
• Be alert for requests of financial information or support.
• Ensure that the conversation stays on platforms you are comfortable using and already have accounts with.
• Look out for over-the-top claims that are hard to verify (“I’m a millionaire”).
• If you believe you have encountered a scammer, block them and report them to the platform they contacted you on.
• If you realise you may have been scammed, report it to CERT NZ as soon as possible.
• As many of these scammers are based overseas, there isn’t always the opportunity to arrest them. But the outgoing funds can sometimes be frozen and then recovered.
• If you gave personal information, the scammers may have used this to open accounts in your name, so getting a free credit check will ascertain if this has happened.
• Never disclose PINs or passwords
• Investigate recipients to ensure they are genuine, before sending money
• Take advice from someone independent and trustworthy before making commitments
• Never accept money for subsequent transfer to others
• Check your accounts regularly
