German, Anna Linden, fell in love with Australia’s Defence Force commander until this ‘former head of the Australian Air force’ asked for $300 for a plane ticket.
Anna met who she thought was an attractive Australian military man stationed in Kabul. ‘He’ explained that he was on the verge of retirement and lonely when he noticed the Facebook profile of the 54-year-old waitress from Aachen, Germany and lost his heart.
More than 20,000 British lonely hearts get scammed through online every year, falling in love with fictitious Facebook and social media profiles created by fraudsters using the identities of real people.
In this case the image and particulars of Australia’s former Air Force head Air Marshall Mark Binskin, 54 was used to con more than one German national and women in two other countries had been approached by the Binskin imposter.
“I knew he [the fraudster] would just keep asking for more money,” Miss Linden told The Sydney Morning Herald, having already fallen victim to a similar scam, in which she handed over €8,000.
In 2012 another Australian official’s identity was stolen in a similar scam. Lieutenant General Rhys Jones, former chief of the New Zealand Defence Force.
