For two unemployed women from Ikageng, unexpected love on Facebook left them with broken hearts and empty pockets when their two Prince Charmings turned out to be fraudsters who were only interested in milking their last rands.

When the two women spoke to the Herald on Tuesday, they realised that their stories shared the same modus operandi of deceiving women and cyber crime.

The 27-year-old woman says her nightmare started in August when a suave, well-dressed ‘engineer’ invited her to befriend him on Facebook. She says she did not hesitate to accept him. Thereafter, they started communicating via inbox, phone numbers were exchanged and communication between the two became a daily activity.

She says it did not take long before the ‘engineer’ swept her off her feet. The romance blossomed and the man asked for her date of birth. He promised her a birthday present and subsequently sent a picture of a laptop, jewellery, expensive clothes and bag, and dollar notes. On the eve of her birthday, she received a call from the courier company to say her package from Chicago had arrived. She says her trust and love for the man was cemented by the call. However, before the courier company could hand over the package, they said, she would immediately have to deposit R1 200.

‘They warned me not to waste time because there would be a daily penalty for delays in claiming the package. They gave me the details and I borrowed the money from my mother and deposited the money. The following day, they called to say that the payment was late and they would have to penalise me. They said I must pay an extra R2 500. I borrowed from my mother again,’ she said.

The distraught woman says she only got suspicious when they requested that she sends an extra R900. At that time, she realised she had been scammed and decided to block her ‘Prince Charming’ on Facebook and stopped the communication. She says she did not even bother to report the case at the police station, all she wanted was to forget about the horrible ordeal.

The second woman to fall into this love trap was a 38-year-old woman who was also contacted on Facebook in September. Her Prince Charming claimed to be a marine engineer. They hit it off almost immediately and, within a few days, the man professed his undying love for her. He also used the ploy of the ‘birthday’ and sent pictures of extravagant items like a laptop, shoes, jewellery and a bag.

The victim says the courier company claimed to have detected money in the parcel and, according to them, it was illegal to transport money in this manner. She would have to pay a penalty of R3 600 to clear her name and to ensure that both she and her lover would be able to travel internationally, they said. She agreed to pay the money over to release the package.

The woman says: ‘I was overjoyed when he said he has a surprise for me Z a brand new Range Rover. He sent me a photo of the car but asked if I would send money over in order to register the car in her name.

‘The devastated woman says she has already lost the R32 000 that she had borrowed from her mother and a friend. The Ikageng SAPS spokesperson, Kelebogile Trom, and Sgt Tebogo Diphoko warned women not to fall for strangers on social networks because there are a lot of con artists out there. ‘This is just one example of cyber crime Z the women were fortunate not to have become victims of human trafficking,’ she warned.