Hampton Roads, Va. – Three men are accused of posing as women on Tinder and targeting Navy Sailors through Tinder and taking tens of thousands of dollars from them, according to court records.
35-year-old Mark Aspili of Hampton, 20-year-old Samari Smith of Williamsburg, and 21-year-old Shawn Stacy of Norfolk are all accused of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud.
There were 11 victims in total listed in court records, according to federal prosecutors.
Records state that it was a phishing scheme that targeted account holders with Navy Federal Union accounts.
Federal prosecutors allege that the suspects would pose as bank employees and contact victims to obtain information necessary to access their accounts.
It states they would allegedly use the money from the phishing to transfer to Sailors they met online, then convenience the Sailors to withdraw money from their own accounts to make it appear like they were being covered.
The victims range in different military ranks. They say the alleged scheme took place from around February 2021 until October 2021.
They say they targeted Sailors in the Navy on dating apps like Tinder by posing as females interested in a romantic relationship.
In some cases, the suspects, posing as females would allegedly tell the victim’s that their sister who is in the military needed help in an effort to get them to transfer funds.
It states the victims were held responsible for many of the losses because they with the funds even though they did so under false expectation that the defendants and their coconspirators had transferred money to their accounts to cover the transactions.
News 3 reached out to the attorneys for all three suspects. Aspili’s attorney said no statements at this time. All three men are out on bond.
According to data from the Federal Trade Commission, more consumers than ever report falling prey to romance scammers. They said consumers reported losing $547 million in 2021 alone. They reported a newly released data spotlight that shows that in 2021 reported losses to romance scammers were up nearly 80 percent compared to 2020, and the total reported lost over the past five years has now reached $1.3 billion. They said while many people report the romance scam started on a dating site or app, reports of romance scams originating from contact through social media were also common.
If you would like to report fraud to the Federal Trade Commission call 877-382-4357 or go to https://reportfraud.ftc.gov
