This is an official ODERSA website.Here’s how you know

The official domain

The address of this site ends in odersa.org. Every service the association runs sits on a subdomain of odersa.org and nowhere else. If the address in your browser’s address bar does not end in odersa.org, this site is not ours.

Free, and no account

Everything is open straight away. No sign-up, no account, no password, no subscription, no advertising. Nothing is held back for those who pay, because there is nothing to pay for.

No data collected

This site does not follow you: no tracker, no tracking cookie, no measurement tool built into these pages, and nothing measured on your device. Our host counts requests in aggregate, as any server that answers does: a total, never a profile. You do not have to take our word for it: open your browser’s developer tools, go to the Network tab, and reload the page. You will see the full list of what the site asks for. Everything comes from odersa.org, nothing goes anywhere else.

Free to reuse

The content is published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. You may copy it, translate it, print it and pass it on, for your classes as much as for the people around you, on one condition only: credit ODERSA.

The romance scam

A relationship builds fast, at a distance, with a great deal of attention. Then a financial emergency appears, and it does not stop of its own accord: every sum sent calls for the next one. This trap does not target naivety, it targets loneliness, and it works on people who are entirely clear headed about everything else.

The bait

Attention, attachment, and the feeling of being understood.

The signs

None is proof on its own. One is enough to stop.

The reflex, in this order

  1. Do not send money to someone you have never met, whatever the story.
  2. Offer an immediate video call: the repeated obstacle is already the answer.
  3. Never receive or transfer money for a third party.
  4. Tell someone you trust before sending anything: saying it out loud is often enough.

If it has already happened

Nobody gets caught out of stupidity: these traps are built to work. What matters now is the order of the steps.

  1. Stop sending, without negotiating and without warning.
  2. Gather the exchanges and the proof of transfers.
  3. Report it to the authorities in your country and to your bank: a recent transfer can sometimes be recalled.
  4. Look for support: shame often stops people reporting, and it does not belong to the victim.

Who is targeted

This page describes the trap so that it can be recognised. It deliberately gives no script, no message template and no tool: enough to defend yourself, never enough to run it again.

Sources

See every trap

One point of law often takes people by surprise: receiving money into your account in order to send it on somewhere else can make you an intermediary in money laundering, with real criminal consequences, even when you believed you were doing someone a favour. That is never done, for anyone.