Women Beware: Sharon Armstrong's Arrest As Alledged Drug Mule Shows Dangers of Social Dating Sites (562 hits)
A former top Maori Language Commission executive has been arrested in Argentina, accused of smuggling cocaine out of the country in a bottomless suitcase. Wellington woman Sharon Armstrong was on her way to visit a man she met on a dating website and appears to have been scammed.
Single and in her in 50's, Armstrong went looking for love online and thought she had found it in London. She was flying to meet her online boyfriend for the first time, paid for by him when he diverted her to pick up some “paperwork” in Buenos Aires. But it was not paperwork police found in her case - it was five kilograms of cocaine.
Cyber safety organisation Netsafe says online dating scams are increasingly common. “Typically, a romance scam ends in a request for money not in a request to take some sort of action, but it makes sense in a way to use the same sort of methodology and trick someone into doing this,” says Martin Cocker, Netsafe executive director.
A close friend of Armstrong's told 3 News her romance started last year, when she met a man online and started chatting to him. About April 10 or 11, she said she was going to London to meet him but at the last minute changed her ticket to go via Argentina. The friend says he put money in her bank account to pay for flights.
On April 13 Armstrong was arrested with five kilograms of cocaine allegedly in a false-bottomed suitcase. 3 News spoke with a family representative today who said they were all shocked and numb with the news. They say the allegations are completely out of character
A sentiment shared by her former colleague Parekura Horomia. “Certainly from what I knew of her and in her role, that's something I’d be surprised at,” he says. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says its embassy in Buenos Aires is working with Armstrong but it remains unclear where she is being held or whether she has been charged.
