Michael from Ghana goes to the voodoo priest if his sacrifice does not pay. The scammer usually takes out four women at once. He tricks them into believing that they are in love until they are broke.
Naomi from Texas has no idea who Michael really is. The young man from Ghana has just recruited them through a partner platform. She is the ideal victim: single, a dog and not too many friends.
In the beginning, he always prints out a photo and takes it to the voodoo priest. Then the Black Magic Man slaughters two chickens and a goat. Naomi's photo is wrapped around a so-called »spirit«. This is supposed to bring the longed-for windfall.

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Michael doesn't have a guilty conscience. He sees his actions as revenge for the crimes of Western colonial rulers. He doesn't care that he is hitting the wives of his descendants.
Michael and the other love scammers proceed systematically. In the beginning, they shower their victims with expressions of love. »My angel«, »darling« and »baby«, with the language they put on a lot of weight, 24 hours a day.
Depending on the situation, this is followed by withdrawal of love, threats and suicidal thoughts. The perpetrators create entire legends and pull out all the stops: Martina, for example, suddenly found herself ensnared by a French businessman on the
net. He called himself "Richard." When Martina sees his photo, she believes in the big prize. A handsome man in his prime, successful, two children: Martina is shockingly in love. In the course of the viral relationship, she loses thousands of euros. Because "Richard" isn't really called that.
How the fraudsters hijack complete life stories on the Internet is revealed by Tatjana Kurdyumov and Steffen Vogel. The SPIEGEL TV authors visited victims and perpetrators. In the first episode "Under Interrogation: The Tinder Swindlers" they explain why it is not advisable for men to exhibit their own life story on social networks.