The Most Used Faces in Romance Fraud Series: Doctors and Surgeons

The plain truth about online romance fraud is that it’s not just the victims who suffer, but also the innocent people whose photos are used in these scams. We call them photo victims.The plain truth about online romance fraud is that it’s not just the victims who suffer, but also the innocent people whose photos are used in these scams. We call them photo victims.

These photo victims come from different backgrounds and different professions. The main ones are:

• Doctors and surgeons
• Military personnel (generals, soldiers, marines, etc.)
• Boat captains
• Pilots
• Public figures (influencers, business people, journalists, models, coaches, etc.)
• Members of the royal family, but not just from the UK or other Western countries, but also from Arab countries.
• Celebrities

These are the perfect backgrounds or professions because gaining trust is paramount in the scam business. Most of these doctors, generals, soldiers, boat captains, pilots, celebrities or royal family members have an air of confidence and charisma about them, and they show all of that in their public photos. This is yet another layer of popularity that scammers do not have to earn.

Here, I created a series of real people — photo victims — whose photos are being used by romance scammers, and it starts with doctors and surgeons.

Why Do Fraudsters Use Doctors and Surgeons?
I guess the reason scammers use doctors and surgeons — or surgeon doctors, as they sometimes call themselves — is that they’re revered and trusted professions. Let’s face it, we have this inherent faith in doctors. They treat us, they save lives. On top of that, they take the Hippocratic oath, which states, “Do no harm.”

Even though scammers mostly use plastic surgeons’ photos in their fake profiles, they claim to be doctors or surgeons — mainly orthopedic surgeons — who work for:

• United Nations (UN)
• World Health Organisation (WHO)
• UNICEF or similar

Here’s the truth about the United Nations (UN): The UN, regardless of the area where they send doctors and surgeons, hires local doctors who work with them. They do not hire doctors or surgeons from the West. The list of those who work for the UN is available online (UN Policy Portal).

There are many scenarios in which fake doctors and surgeons ask their targets for money. One of them is this:

The fake doctor or surgeon claims to be building or expanding a clinic and coming short on contract completion. There may be a recent problem finding money to complete the project. So, the scammer asks the target to invest.

Another scenario in this type of fraud is that these fake doctors and surgeons can be used as casts in other fraud when a medical emergency occurs.

In my situation, the scammer claimed to be an emergency doctor who worked at a gas rig in the Black Sea and ran out of encrypted data for his internet and found out that he had cancer. To be extracted from the rig and returned to the US, he first needed $500 for his internet service and then additional money to pay for the helicopter. All because his bank account was frozen.

The Most Used Faces in Romance Fraud Series: Doctors and Surgeons
Here, I say doctors and surgeons; however, I have one dentist and a vet on this list. Let’s have a look, shall we?