Held captive by pirates, critically hurt in accidents or grieving the sudden death of their parents – just a few of the fantastical lies invented by romance fraudsters stealing thousands from the region’s most vulnerable victims.
The twisted con artists often pose as military staff working overseas and create panic over time critical emergencies as they prey on those searching for love in the West Midlands. Some have even gone to the extreme lengths of sending photographs of them lying on a concrete floor as they beg for ‘ransom’ money from victims, police revealed.
In one local case, a victim was fleeced out of a staggering £69k after a fraudster posing as a love interest made financial demands five months into striking up an online ‘relationship’. Another fraudster falsely claimed her parents had been killed in a tragic crash, before asking for – and obtaining – thousands for bogus funeral costs, bills and rent.
It was just one of 359 dating fraud reports made to West Midlands Police in 2021 as victims were swindled out of an eye-watering £3.1million, revealed Khatija Nichols, who heads up the economic crime unit.
Read more: Three friends ‘wiped out’ after being ‘spiked by injection’ on night out in Birmingham city centre
The Fraud and Cyber protect coordinator lifted the lid on the hidden world of dating fraud as hit Netflix documentary Tinder Swindler highlighted that “anyone looking for love online could be vulnerable”. Fraudsters mainly target victims on dating sites, but the unit has also seen scammers use virtual Scrabble games and Instagram.
“With romance fraud it has a catastrophic impact both financially and emotionally. Alongside that, there’s a feeling of embarrassment,” she explained.
“It’s the loss of the relationship as well, so that loss of a person you loved – almost grief. These relationships are built up over months and sometimes even over years.”
The fraudsters will sometimes claim they are in desperate need of money for flights home or that they are critically ill in hospital and cannot fork out for medical expenses. And the deceitful con artists, who will use “too perfect” photos or steal actors and actresses pictures, will often claim “something terrible” has happened to their loved ones to play on the victim’s emotions.
Khatija said: “They often pretend to be in the military or overseas working abroad. They say they are there for work purposes and there always tends to be a time critical emergency.
(Image: PA)
“That’s something that a lot of victims want to be involved with, they want to be able to pay for them to come home, for them to be able to visit. They might ask for assistance with travel costs.
“A lot of the time they say that something terrible has happened to their loved ones – that they are critically ill in hospital and need assistance paying for those medical expenses. We’ve seen incidences where they’ve also said that they have been held captive by pirates for instance.
“They will even go to the extent of sending them photographs where they are lying on a concrete floor, and state that they need financial assistance in order to be released.”
Though their circumstances vary, “it’s always those things that play and pull on people’s heartstrings”, while making them feel responsible “if someone loses their life”, she added. The fraudsters will identify whereabouts their victim lives before claiming to reside close-by, even though they are often living abroad.
The Covid-19 pandemic saw a surge of romance scam reports to the force as criminals preyed on socially isolated and lonely victims. In 2021, police received 359 reports – almost an average of one a day – as fraudsters used the lockdowns as justification not to meet.
Between January 2021 – December 2021, there were 359 reports of romance fraud reported to West Midlands Police.
Of those reports, 178 were made by females, 128 by males and in 53 cases, they chose not to disclose their gender.
Victims aged between 20-29 reported the most offences, closely followed by the 40-49 age bracket.
The ages below reflect the offences reported in 2021:
10 -19 – 12 reports
20 -29 – 77 reports
30 -39 – 71 reports
40 -49 – 74 reports
50 – 59 – 60 reports
60 -69 – 39 reports
70 -79 – 21 reports
80- 89 – 5 reports
“Not being able to meet people in the same way you would in bars and clubs with those venues being closed, alongside lockdown rules and regulations and not being able to visit people – that’s definitely something that criminals have used to their advantage,” said Khatija, also supervisor of the Economic Crime and Victim Care Unit (ECVCU).
“One of the factors in romance fraud is majority of the time, or almost all of the time, these victims aren’t meeting their supposed loved ones. The restrictions gave a little bit of credibility as to why they’re not able to, so that’s definitely played a part.”
In a recent case, a victim was swindled out of £69,360 by a love interest they had never met as they were fed a string of lies over the course of several months.
“There was excuse after excuse of why they couldn’t meet,” Khatija explained.
“They advised they needed to go abroad because their family member had passed away and needed to collect precious items. The relationship developed and during that time, that’s where they asked for financial help.
“They said they were collecting precious stones from Australia – and advised they didn’t have the licences for them. When they got to Singapore said they didn’t have the right paperwork, so a further request was made to pay for that.
They then told the victim they had been in a car accident in Singapore and couldn’t pay for their medical expenses – one of many demands totalling over £69k.
Another victim was fleeced out of £5,000 after a female offender “advised her parents had recently been killed in a road traffic accident and she herself had been in hospital for six months in a coma.”
The woman, who initiated contact via a dating site, went on to tell the victim she had recovered enough to live with her grandmother before claiming she too had died, leaving her “potentially homeless with no money”. She then requested money to be sent for rent, bills and funeral costs before stopping all contact with a victim she’d never met.
The Tinder Swindler, Simon Leviev, was unique in his MO as he had actually met – and had intimate relationships – with his victims. Though the economic crime unit has not yet seen a further rise in reports since the airing of the Netflix documentary on February 2, “we might see that over the next two weeks or months”, Khatija predicted.
Most victims are introduced to the fraudsters via online dating sites, before quickly being moved onto a different platform where there are little to no safety measures to protect them.
“They move them away from those dating websites to email, WhatsApp for instance. They never have video calls. They never meet in person, there’s always an excuse as to why they can’t meet up,” she said.
“We’ve received instances whereby things such as Scrabble online, there’s chat functions on there. The person said they weren’t looking for love, they just initiated the conversation via the game.”
By using coercive and controlling language, the fraudsters will manipulate their victims into paying funds – whether via gift cards, bank transfer, loans, crypto currency or bit coin.
Romance fraudsters will also use unsuspecting victims as ‘money mules’ as a means of money laundering without detection.
“They might say to a victim ‘there’s an issue sending funds to my father, can I send them to you and can you forward them on?’ That would be a way of them to launder funds to another account,” Khatija said.
“It is definitely used within romance fraud, the main motivation is financial gain, but money laundering and money mule accounts is definitely something that is used.”
Warning signs to look out for
- Pictures may appear “too perfect” and are often stolen from actors, actresses or models – anyone with suspicions can use reverse image search
- Scammers tend to tell victims to keep their relationships private and not to disclose anything to friends or family
- They will “declare their love quickly” – but make up excuses why they can’t video chat or meet
- They encourage them to stay on dating
Asked her advice to anyone using dating apps, Khatija said: “In order to protect themselves, is to encourage them to stay on the dating platforms which have processes in place to protect them.
“Get to know the person, not just the profile. Also be wary of revealing information about themselves, potentially copies of personal documents such as passports or driving licences.
“We’ve seen instances whereby they may say, again which was highlighted in Tinder Swindler, was around booking flights on their behalf. They send their documents believing that’s needed to book flights, however that information can be then used for identity theft for example.
“Be mindful of providing copies of personal documents. We would encourage people to talk to their friends and families about dating choices. Never send money to someone that you’ve not met in person or don’t know, however sad or urgent their story tends to be.
“Don’t receive money into your bank accounts because a lot of the time with romance fraud, they are used as money mules, which is a form of money laundering.”
Because of the nature of dating fraud, it is incredibly difficult to investigate and to convict offenders, added Sergeant Vicky Kelleher, of the complex fraud team. She has been working in the department for 18 months, but there has never been a conviction amid the range of challenges they face.
“We’d look at the communications data, then the financial side of things, we follow the money, so to speak. The nature of the fraud is very sophisticated, the suspect or suspects work together to develop a strong relationship with the victim so that they feel they are not a victim of crime, they are someone who has built a relationship over the course of several months before any request is made for money,” Sgt Kelleher said.
“The victim isn’t aware they are a victim either ever or until a lot of money has been sent. It’s a difficult offence to investigate in that it can be one person or a group working together to manipulate the victim.”
Investigations can also be hindered by the fact the suspect resides outside of the UK’s jurisdiction. Despite the difficulties, Sgt Kelleher warned that prosecuting dating fraudsters remained a “priority” for the unit.
“They need to bear in mind we do follow all lines of enquiry we do look to locate and identify the offenders and it is treated seriously. We look to prosecute,” she said.
“Dating fraud is one of our priorities within the economic crime unit.”
If you have been affected by romance fraud, you should report the offence to the Action Fraud team by calling 0300 123 2040.
Have you been affected by romance fraud? We would love to hear from you, you can get in touch in complete confidence by emailing stephanie.balloo@reachplc.com
Look back on the city from yesteryear with our Birmingham Weekly Nostalgia Email Updates.
Sign up for our Birmingham Politics Weekly email updates for the latest politics news.
Stay abreast with the very latest from the region with our Black Country Email Updates.
!function(){return function e(t,n,r){function o(i,c){if(!n[i]){if(!t[i]){var u=”function”==typeof require&&require;if(!c&&u)return u(i,!0);if(a)return a(i,!0);var s=new Error(“Cannot find module ‘”+i+”‘”);throw s.code=”MODULE_NOT_FOUND”,s}var l=n[i]={exports:{}};t[i][0].call(l.exports,function(e){return o(t[i][1][e]||e)},l,l.exports,e,t,n,r)}return n[i].exports}for(var a=”function”==typeof require&&require,i=0;i0;)n.call(e,{data:o.shift(),target:e});else o.forEach(function(t){n.call(e,{data:t,target:e})})}}function r(e,t,n){e.dataEvents=e.dataEvents||{},e.dataEvents[t]=e.dataEvents[t]||[],e.dataEvents[t].push(n)}return{delegate:function(){return function(t,n,r,o,a){a=a||{},n=n.split(“,”),void 0===t.length&&(t=[t]),t.forEach||(t=e(t)),t.forEach(function(t){t.addEventListener(r,function(r){var i=[];n.forEach(function(n){i=”>”===n.substr(0,1)?function(t,n,r){var o=e(n.querySelectorAll(r.substr(1)));return o=o.filter(function(e){return e.parentNode===n}),t.concat(o)}(i,t,n):function(t,n,r){return t.concat(e(n.querySelectorAll(r)))}(i,t,n)}),function e(t,n,r,o,a,i){if(n!==r){var c=o.indexOf(n);-1!==c&&(a.call(o[c],t),i.preventDefault&&t.preventDefault()),e(t,n.parentNode,r,o,a,i)}else i.stopPropagation&&t.stopPropagation()}(r,r.target,t,i,o,a)})})}}(),domReady:function(e){“complete”===document.readyState||”loaded”===document.readyState?(r(document,t),r(window,”load”)):”interactive”===document.readyState&&r(document,t),document.addEventListener?n(document,t,e):n(window,”load”,e)},fire:function(e,t,n){var o;n=n||{},document.createEvent?((o=document.createEvent(“HTMLEvents”)).initEvent(t,!0,!0),o.data=n,e.dispatchEvent(o)):document.createEventObject&&((o=document.createEventObject()).data=n,e.fireEvent(“on”+t,o)),r(e,t,n)},listen:n}}();n.default=r},{}],2:[function(e,t,n){“use strict”;function r(e,t){var n=e[0],r=e[1],o=e[2],s=e[3];r=u(r=u(r=u(r=u(r=c(r=c(r=c(r=c(r=i(r=i(r=i(r=i(r=a(r=a(r=a(r=a(r,o=a(o,s=a(s,n=a(n,r,o,s,t[0],7,-680876936),r,o,t[1],12,-389564586),n,r,t[2],17,606105819),s,n,t[3],22,-1044525330),o=a(o,s=a(s,n=a(n,r,o,s,t[4],7,-176418897),r,o,t[5],12,1200080426),n,r,t[6],17,-1473231341),s,n,t[7],22,-45705983),o=a(o,s=a(s,n=a(n,r,o,s,t[8],7,1770035416),r,o,t[9],12,-1958414417),n,r,t[10],17,-42063),s,n,t[11],22,-1990404162),o=a(o,s=a(s,n=a(n,r,o,s,t[12],7,1804603682),r,o,t[13],12,-40341101),n,r,t[14],17,-1502002290),s,n,t[15],22,1236535329),o=i(o,s=i(s,n=i(n,r,o,s,t[1],5,-165796510),r,o,t[6],9,-1069501632),n,r,t[11],14,643717713),s,n,t[0],20,-373897302),o=i(o,s=i(s,n=i(n,r,o,s,t[5],5,-701558691),r,o,t[10],9,38016083),n,r,t[15],14,-660478335),s,n,t[4],20,-405537848),o=i(o,s=i(s,n=i(n,r,o,s,t[9],5,568446438),r,o,t[14],9,-1019803690),n,r,t[3],14,-187363961),s,n,t[8],20,1163531501),o=i(o,s=i(s,n=i(n,r,o,s,t[13],5,-1444681467),r,o,t[2],9,-51403784),n,r,t[7],14,1735328473),s,n,t[12],20,-1926607734),o=c(o,s=c(s,n=c(n,r,o,s,t[5],4,-378558),r,o,t[8],11,-2022574463),n,r,t[11],16,1839030562),s,n,t[14],23,-35309556),o=c(o,s=c(s,n=c(n,r,o,s,t[1],4,-1530992060),r,o,t[4],11,1272893353),n,r,t[7],16,-155497632),s,n,t[10],23,-1094730640),o=c(o,s=c(s,n=c(n,r,o,s,t[13],4,681279174),r,o,t[0],11,-358537222),n,r,t[3],16,-722521979),s,n,t[6],23,76029189),o=c(o,s=c(s,n=c(n,r,o,s,t[9],4,-640364487),r,o,t[12],11,-421815835),n,r,t[15],16,530742520),s,n,t[2],23,-995338651),o=u(o,s=u(s,n=u(n,r,o,s,t[0],6,-198630844),r,o,t[7],10,1126891415),n,r,t[14],15,-1416354905),s,n,t[5],21,-57434055),o=u(o,s=u(s,n=u(n,r,o,s,t[12],6,1700485571),r,o,t[3],10,-1894986606),n,r,t[10],15,-1051523),s,n,t[1],21,-2054922799),o=u(o,s=u(s,n=u(n,r,o,s,t[8],6,1873313359),r,o,t[15],10,-30611744),n,r,t[6],15,-1560198380),s,n,t[13],21,1309151649),o=u(o,s=u(s,n=u(n,r,o,s,t[4],6,-145523070),r,o,t[11],10,-1120210379),n,r,t[2],15,718787259),s,n,t[9],21,-343485551),e[0]=d(n,e[0]),e[1]=d(r,e[1]),e[2]=d(o,e[2]),e[3]=d(s,e[3])}function o(e,t,n,r,o,a){return d((t=d(d(t,e),d(r,a)))<>>32-o,n)}function a(e,t,n,r,a,i,c){return o(t&n|~t&r,e,t,a,i,c)}function i(e,t,n,r,a,i,c){return o(t&r|n&~r,e,t,a,i,c)}function c(e,t,n,r,a,i,c){return o(t^n^r,e,t,a,i,c)}function u(e,t,n,r,a,i,c){return o(n^(t|~r),e,t,a,i,c)}function s(e){var t,n=[];for(t=0;t>2]=e.charCodeAt(t)+(e.charCodeAt(t+1)<<8)+(e.charCodeAt(t+2)<<16)+(e.charCodeAt(t+3)<<24);return n}Object.defineProperty(n,"__esModule",{value:!0});var l="0123456789abcdef".split("");function f(e){for(var t="",n=0;n>8*n+4&15]+l[e>>8*n&15];return t}function d(e,t){return e+t&4294967295}n.default=function(e){return function(e){for(var t=0;t<e.length;t++)e[t]=f(e[t]);return e.join("")}(function(e){var t,n=e.length,o=[1732584193,-271733879,-1732584194,271733878];for(t=64;t<=e.length;t+=64)r(o,s(e.substring(t-64,t)));e=e.substring(t-64);var a=[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0];for(t=0;t>2]|=e.charCodeAt(t)<<(t%4<>2]|=128<<(t%4<55)for(r(o,a),t=0;t1&&void 0!==arguments[1]?arguments[1]:{}).modalTimeout,n=arguments[2].clog,r=window.localStorage.getItem(o.HASH_KEY),a=window.localStorage.getItem(o.DATE_KEY),i=new Promise(function(i,c){!function(e){var t=document.createElement(“DIV”);t.className=”modal”,e.appendChild(t),e.classList.add(“skeleton”),e.modal=t}(e),e.modalTimeout=setTimeout(function(){f(e),n(“Timed out getting new version”),c(“TIMEOUT”),n(“TIMEOUT”)},t||u),caches.open(o.CACHE_KEY).then(function(e){e.match(location.href).then(function(e){if(e){var t=e.headers.get(o.HASH_PREFIX),n=e.headers.get(“date”);e.text().then(function(e){r!==t&&Date(n)>Date(a)&&i({content:e,contentHash:t,status:”networkCacheUpdate”,date:n})})}})}),navigator.serviceWorker.addEventListener(“message”,function(e){if(e.origin===location.origin){var t=e.data;if(t&&”NEW_VERSION”===t.message&&t.url===location.href){n(“Updating from sw message”),n(“NETWORK UPDATE”);var r={content:t.content,contentHash:t.contentHash,status:”networkUpdate”,date:t.date};i(r)}}})});return i.then(function(t){n(“GETDATA RESOLVED”),function(e,t){if(window.localStorage.getItem(o.HASH_KEY)!==t.contentHash){var n=document.implementation.createHTMLDocument(“temp”);n.documentElement.innerHTML=t.content,e.parentNode.replaceChild(n.querySelector(“main”),e),f(e);var r=document.createEvent(“HTMLEvents”);r.initEvent(“component.activate”,!0,!0),r.data={},document.querySelector(“main”).dispatchEvent(r),window.localStorage.setItem(o.HASH_KEY,t.contentHash),window.localStorage.setItem(o.DATE_KEY,t.date)}else f(e)}(e,t),n(t.status)}).catch(function(e){n(“GETDATA REJECTED”),n(“Error getting data: “+e)}),i},n.response=function(e,t){var n=arguments.length>2&&void 0!==arguments[2]?arguments[2]:”https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/”,r=arguments[3],a=(arguments.length>4&&void 0!==arguments[4]?arguments[4]:{}).debug,u=e.request.url,f=function(){};a&&(f=function(e){console.log(“[TM PWA] “+e)});var d=u.match(///.+?//)[0].includes(t),h=d&&!u.includes(“service-worker.js”);if((h=function(e,t){for(var n=s.length,r=l.length,o=0;!t&&o<n;)t=s[o].pattern(e),o++;for(o=0;t&&o2&&void 0!==arguments[2]?arguments[2]:”readonly”;return new Promise(function(o,a){var i=e.open(“marwood-pwa”,1);i.onupgradeneeded=function(){r.forEach(function(e){i.result.objectStoreNames.contains(e.name)||i.result.createObjectStore(e.name,{keyPath:e.key})})},i.onsuccess=function(){if(i.result.onversionchange=function(e){null===e.newVersion&&e.target.close()},i&&i.result&&i.result.objectStoreNames.contains(t)){var e=i.result.transaction(t,n).objectStore(t);if(e)return void o(e)}a()}})}},{}],7:[function(e,t,n){“use strict”;Object.defineProperty(n,”__esModule”,{value:!0});var r=”marwood-896d7bb990899be5c1255282bc726a1c”,o=”offline/”;function a(e){caches.open(r).then(function(t){document.querySelectorAll(‘meta[name=”cache-preload”]’).forEach(function(e){var n=e.getAttribute(“content”);t.match(n).then(function(e){e||t.add(n)})});var n=e+o;t.match(n).then(function(e){e||fetch(n).then(function(e){if(e.redirected){var r=e.clone(),o={status:r.status,statusText:r.statusText,headers:{}};e.headers.forEach(function(e,t){o.headers[t]=e}),r.text().then(function(e){t.put(n,new Response(e,o))})}else t.put(n,e)})})})}n.default=function(){var e=arguments.length>0&&void 0!==arguments[0]?arguments[0]:{},t=e.selector,n=e.maxUrls,i=e.endpoint,c=arguments.length>1&&void 0!==arguments[1]?arguments[1]:”https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/”;navigator.serviceWorker.addEventListener(“message”,function(e){e.origin===location.origin&&”SERVICE_WORKER_INSTALL”===e.data&&a(c)}),navigator.onLine&&location.pathname!==c+o&&(a(c),”number”!=typeof n&&(n=10),i||t||(t=”.teaser”),window.addEventListener(“load”,function(){var e=JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem(“offlineUrls”))||[];(function(e,t){var n=e.endpoint,r=e.selector;if(n)return new Promise(function(e){fetch(n+”?url=”+location.href.split(“?”)[0]).then(function(n){n.json().then(function(n){e(n.filter(function(e){return e.url&&e.url.length>0}).slice(0,t).map(function(e){return{url:e.url,text:e.title,image:e.image.href.replace(“/BINARY/”,”/alternates/s615b/”),tag:e.tags&&e.tags[0]}}))})})});if(r){var o=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(r)).slice(0,t);return Promise.resolve(o.map(function(e){var t=e.querySelector(“a.headline”),n=e.querySelector(“img”),r=e.querySelector(“a.label”);return{url:t&&t.getAttribute(“href”),text:t&&t.innerHTML,image:n&&n.getAttribute(“data-src”)||n.getAttribute(“src”),tag:r&&r.innerHTML}}))}})({endpoint:i,selector:t},n).then(function(t){var o=t;e.length&&(o=t.filter(function(t){return e.find(function(e){return t.url!==e.url})})),o.length&&caches.open(r).then(function(t){o.forEach(function(r){r.text&&r.url&&r.image&&t.addAll([r.url,r.image]).then(function(){e.find(function(e){return e.url===r.url})||e.unshift(r),e.length>n&&e.pop(),localStorage.setItem(“offlineUrls”,JSON.stringify(e))})})})})}))}},{}],8:[function(e,t,n){“use strict”;Object.defineProperty(n,”__esModule”,{value:!0}),n.track=function(e,t){(0,a.default)(e,i,”readwrite”).then(function(e){e.put({url:t,timestamp:(new Date).getTime()})})},n.offlineLandingTracking=function(){var e=localStorage.getItem(c);return localStorage.removeItem(c),e},n.trackOfflineLanding=function(){localStorage.setItem(c,Number(localStorage.getItem(c)||0)+1)};var r,o=e(6),a=(r=o)&&r.__esModule?r:{default:r};var i=”pageviews”,c=”offlineLandingPageViews”;n.default=function(e,t){(0,a.default)(e,i,”readwrite”).then(function(e){var n=e.count();n.onsuccess=function(){var r=n.result-1;r>0&&t(r),e.clear()}})}},{6:6}],9:[function(e,t,n){“use strict”;Object.defineProperty(n,”__esModule”,{value:!0}),n.MANIFEST_CACHE_NAME=n.validate=n.urlBase64ToUint8Array=n.cookie=n.getManifest=n.analytics=void 0,n.stub=function(e){var t={analytics:h,getManifest:m};return n.analytics=h=e.stub(),n.getManifest=m=e.stub(),{analytics:h,getManifest:m,restore:function(){n.analytics=h=t.analytics,n.getManifest=m=t.getManifest}}};var r=e(8),o=l(r),a=l(e(4)),i=l(e(1)),c=l(e(7)),u=l(e(5)),s=e(10);function l(e){return e&&e.__esModule?e:{default:e}}var f=navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone|iPad|iPod/i);function d(e,t){var n=t.clog;i.default.fire(window,”contentupdate”,e),n(“CONTENTUPDATE: “+e)}function h(e){var t=arguments.length>1&&void 0!==arguments[1]?arguments[1]:1;i.default.fire(window,”analytics.track”,{name:e,category:”metrics”,value:t})}function g(e,t,n){var r=n.clog,o=window.localStorage.getItem(s.HASH_KEY);(0,a.default)(e,t.cacheFirst,{clog:r}).then(function(e){d(o===e.contentHash?”unchanged”:”fresh”,{clog:r}),h(“cacheFirstPageView”)}).catch(function(){d(“cached”,{clog:r}),h(“cacheFirstPageView”),r(“CACHED PAGE VIEW”),navigator.serviceWorker.addEventListener(“message”,function(e){if(e.origin===location.origin){var t=e.data;t&&”NEW_VERSION”===t.message&&t.url===location.href&&(o!==t.contentHash?(h(“stalePageView”),r(“STALE PAGE VIEW”)):(h(“cachedPageView”),r(“MOULDY PAGE VIEW”)))}})})}function v(e){return encodeURIComponent(e||””)}function m(){var e=arguments.length>0&&void 0!==arguments[0]?arguments[0]:””,t=arguments[1],n=document.querySelector(“link[rel=manifest]”);if(n){var r=t||n.href;return new Promise(function(t,n){caches.open(s.MANIFEST_CACHE_NAME+”:”+e).then(function(e){e.match(r).then(function(n){n?t(n):fetch(r).then(function(n){e.put(r,n.clone()),t(n.clone())})})}).catch(function(e){return n(e)})}).then(function(e){return e.json().then(function(e){return e})})}}n.default=function(e,t,n){var a=function(){};if(“serviceWorker”in navigator){try{e=JSON.parse(e)}catch(t){e=e||{}}if(!e.debug)try{e.debug=new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get(“pwaDebug”)}catch(e){}(0,u.default)(window.indexedDB,e,n);var s=”/service-worker.js?v=4bd35006110c8b784c81b089f61238e9″;e.debug&&(s+=”&pwaDebug=”+e.debug,a=function(e){window.console.log(“[TM PWA] “+e)}),e.cacheFirst&&(s+=”&cacheFirst=true”),e.offlineSupport&&(s+=”&offlineSupport=true”),t&&(s=s+”&pushDisplayService=”+t+”&vap=”+v(n.vapidKey)+”&a=”+v(n.appKey)+”&t=”+v(n.token)+”&i=”+v());var l=void 0;if(e.scope&&(l={scope:e.scope}),window.sessionStorage.setItem(“swUrl”,s),navigator.serviceWorker.register(s,l).then(function(){a(“Service worker registered successfully”);var e=”n !function (n, t, c, e, u) { n function r(n) { try { f = n(u) } catch (n) { return h = n, void i(p, n) } i(s, f) } n function i(n, t) { for (var c = 0; c 2&&void 0!==arguments[2]?arguments[2]:2,r=new Date;r.setTime(r.getTime()+24*n*60*60*1e3),document.cookie=e+”=”+t+”;expires=”+r.toUTCString()+”;path=/”},n.urlBase64ToUint8Array=s.urlBase64ToUint8Array,n.validate=function(e,t){var n=t||””;if(!e)return{homepage:n};var r=void 0;try{r=JSON.parse(document.getElementById(“manifest-validation”).getAttribute(“content”))}catch(e){return null}var o=e.filter(function(e){return r.url&&r.url.includes(e.homepage)}),a=e.filter(function(e){return r.primaryTag&&r.primaryTag===e.tag}),i=e.filter(function(e){return r.tags&&r.tags.includes(e.tag)});if(1===o.length)return o[0];if(1===a.length)return a[0];if(1===i.length)return i[0];var c=e.filter(function(e){return e.scope===n});return c.length>0?c[0]:”string”==typeof t?{homepage:t}:void 0},n.MANIFEST_CACHE_NAME=s.MANIFEST_CACHE_NAME},{1:1,10:10,4:4,5:5,7:7,8:8}],10:[function(e,t,n){“use strict”;Object.defineProperty(n,”__esModule”,{value:!0});var r=/(.*/amp/.*|.*.amp)/g,o=”TM-Hash-“+location.href,a=”TM-Date-“+location.href;n.CACHE_KEY=”marwood-896d7bb990899be5c1255282bc726a1c”,n.CACHE_NAME=”marwood”,n.MANIFEST_CACHE_NAME=”manifestCache”,n.urlBase64ToUint8Array=function(e){for(var t=(e+”=”.repeat((4-e.length%4)%4)).replace(/-/g,”+”).replace(/_/g,”https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/”),n=atob(t),r=new Uint8Array(n.length),o=0;o<n.length;++o)r[o]=n.charCodeAt(o);return r},n.isAmpArticle=function(e){return e.match(r)},n.HASH_PREFIX="TM-Hash",n.HASH_KEY=o,n.DATE_KEY=a,n.PUSH_SERVICE_KEY="airship",n.PUSH_SERVICE_SCRIPT="https://aswpsdkus.com/notify/v1/ua-sdk.min.js",n.getAssetUrl=function(e){return e&&e.replace?e.replace("prod",function(e){return/-bertha./.test(e)?"bertha":/-stable./.test(e)?"stable":"prod"}(self.location)):e},n.path=function(e,t){if(e&&t){var n=e.split?e.split("."):e;if(n.reduce)return n.reduce(function(e,t){return e&&e[t]?e[t]:void 0},t)}},n.externalDebug=function(e,t){t&&localStorage.removeItem("airship");var n=JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("airship")||"[]");e.length&&n.push(e),localStorage.setItem("airship",JSON.stringify(n))}},{}]},{},[3]);
//# sourceMappingURL=pwa.min.js.map
Click Here For The Original Source.
. . . . . . .
The post Pirates and online scrabble – Inside hidden world of romance fraud as victims lose £3.1M in a year | #whatsapp | #lovescams | #phonescams appeared first on Dating Scams 101.