Marriage Fraudster and Inheritance Swindler (Case Study of Kurtz Detective Agency Bochum)

For 30 years, Mrs F. has been in a relationship with her partner, as she stated during her conversation with the private detectives of Kurtz Investigations Bochum. Although they never decided to marry and instead liked to grant each other personal freedoms, it had nevertheless always been a harmonious and loving relationship. Mr K., the said partner, has now fallen ill with cancer and the prognoses allow him only a very limited remaining life expectancy. After the diagnosis, Mr K.’s behaviour changed significantly, he increasingly neglected the joint medical practice with Mrs F., and the relationship itself also began to suffer. “I simply wanted to be there for him during this difficult phase, but he suddenly kept me at a distance,” Mrs F. told our Bochum private detectives. “First he stopped coming to the practice, then he stayed away from home for days at a time. I did not want to overwhelm him with reproaches in this difficult situation, but it is not easy for me either!”

One day, the client of the Kurtz Private Detective Agency Bochum finally confronted Mr K. openly and accused him of turning away from her for another woman – not in the form of sexual infidelity within the partnership, but through an active emotional bond with another woman. Mr K. admitted that he had met a woman and was spending a lot of time with her in her small flat in Wuppertal. How the situation would develop, he said, he did not yet know.

New Relationship Without Prospect

“He has become a completely different person since then,” Mrs F. reports to our Bochum private investigators. “He was always so meticulous. But now everything seems to be irrelevant to him. I feel like a foolish schoolgirl pining after a wonderful man. This woman lures him to her with promises and talks to him about the future. But what kind of future can they possibly have? He is going to die, that is certain. And within the next two years. How can anyone talk about a future in such circumstances? On top of that, she is supposed to be much younger than him. And because of his therapy, he is no longer even capable of sexual activity. What could she possibly want from him? I simply cannot believe that he has suddenly found some kind of new Mother Teresa.”

What Mrs F. is implying becomes obvious to the private investigators of Kurtz Investigations Bochum very quickly: Mr K.’s new girlfriend could be an inheritance scammer, possibly also a marriage swindler. The investigations conducted by our Bochum private detectives are intended to clarify the situation.

Address Tracing via a Legendised Enquiry to the Woman Sought

Initially not even the woman’s address was known, only her name and town (Wuppertal). Tracking Mr K. by vehicle observation was not possible because Ms F. had no information about his whereabouts. Each time she met him in recent weeks the target person would “terrorise” Mr K. on the phone and urge him to end the call with Ms F. as quickly as possible and come to her in Wuppertal. An observation could therefore not be started because there was no viable starting point.

Using the name of the “other woman” (quote Ms F.), the detectives of Kurtz Investigations Bochum were able to locate an email address on a dog-breeders’ website that could with a high degree of certainty be assigned to the target. Under the legend that one was the dog-breeder and, due to a tax inspection, had to disclose all transactions of the last five years but had misplaced the target’s address, the target was written to and asked for help. This procedure is not unlawful, although the breeder could, if aware of the investigative method, demand cessation under § 12 BGB. A few hours later the target replied and courteously provided her current address. Kurtz Detective Agency Bochum then prepared for observation.

Living with a Dog Despite an Allergy?

The address proved to be an apartment block in Wuppertal-Barmen consisting exclusively of social housing, tenable only with a housing entitlement certificate. The building was in urgent need of renovation and was almost empty. Of the 16 flats belonging to the target’s entrance, only three were still tenanted. The back door stood open day and night, the cellar smelled of urine and the soundscape in the target’s flat suggested a large dog.

“In such a filthy dump he is supposed to live?” the client of Kurtz Detective Agency Bochum later exclaimed incredulously. “He is always so tidy! And he hates dogs, he is even allergic – it can’t be!” It can, because Mr K.’s car (a 2011 Mercedes) was parked outside the building – a bold choice in view of the social environment.

Complete Destitution – the Motive?

Using a fairly elaborate legend, one of our Bochum private detectives made direct contact with the target in an attempt to obtain further information. This approach was hampered by the target’s lack of cooperation. Nevertheless, our Bochum investigator obtained self-declared information about the target’s occupation, income situation and vocational training: unemployed, on ALG II, no completed vocational training. In addition, the operative was able to form an immediate impression of the target: brusque in manner but by no means unintelligent, outwardly very unkempt and unattractive. She could not have won over Mr K. by feminine charms given the obvious lack of such.

Mr K. and the target were then observed on three consecutive working days. During this period they rarely left the flat; occasional checks always revealed a loudly playing television in the flat. Even the dog was only rarely and briefly walked. The target apparently had no employment (see self-declaration), which gave the client of our Bochum private detectives a clear motive.

Suspicions Confirmed: Target Is a Four-Time Widow

A few days later the detectives of Kurtz Detective Agency Bochum also received the result of an employment-history check via databases that had been initiated in parallel to the observations: it confirmed the investigators’ impression that the target was probably unemployed. At the same time the target’s date of birth was established. This permitted research into previous marriages. Through contacts that must remain unnamed, three name changes, numerous address changes and five marriages of the target could be demonstrated. Further enquiries by our Bochum detectives revealed that only one of these ex-husbands is still alive (the first). All the others died within a period of two months to four years after marriage. The relevant extended registration-office reports, which are required as evidence, can be issued after filing a criminal complaint on the basis of the overwhelming circumstantial evidence. The only question remained why the target continued to live in rather poor circumstances. Had she squirreled away the money?

Unteachable Victim

The sad fact: despite these clear indications Mr K. remained unwilling to end the relationship with the target. Kurtz Detective Agency Bochum could only wish Ms F. well and hope that her fond memories of the relationship with Mr K. would not be too tarnished by these events after his death. The work of our Bochum detectives ended at this point.

All names and locations have, of course, been altered to ensure complete anonymity.