Soldier found dead in Olivos was lead to suicide by scam, government says

A 21-year-old soldier who was found dead in December at the Olivos presidential residency  committed suicide because he was being scammed and threatened via a fake dating app run by prison inmates, the security ministry and the judiciary revealed on Monday. Rodrigo Gómez, who worked as a guard at the residency, was found dead on December 16 inside one of the security boxes in the compound. Initial probes suspected the mand had died by suicide using his own rifle, between 5 and 5:30 a.m. that morning. A suicide letter was also found at the time, in which he stated he was having economic issues and was in debt. The investigation Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva and federal Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, who is in charge of the investigation, said in a press conference that Gómez was being blackmailed by inmates housed in the Magdalena penitentiary in Buenos Aires province. According to their findings, the inmates had created a fake dating app called EVERMATCH. Gómez signed up to the site and started speaking with women who didn’t really exist. The blackmail began when the scammer contacted the victims to claim the women were actually underage, posing as an alleged relative. A member of the criminal group sent victims audios posing as an “upset mother” saying that they had “contacted a 17-year-old minor, that they were degenerates and that they would report them to police.” The victims also received a call from an alleged police officer, who demanded money in exchange of dropping the investigation against them. The scammers used the name of a real Buenos Aires City police officer. The investigation began with Gómez’s death. Information from his suicide letter, where the soldier mentioned the app, and an analysis of his phone allowed the probe to find more victims. Monteoliva read some paragraphs of the letter during the press conference. “Who would have thought that using a dating app would bring me so many problems. Due to that app, I am having legal problems and I am in a lot of debt,” the letter said. “I can’t even fix things through those police officers, because supposedly if I paid them for things to be solved… this seems to be a scam, because all they do is ask for more and more money,” Gómez wrote, calling those alleged officers “corrupt.” The organization was led by three young men who are detained in the Magdalena penitentiary, who also had help from other people. Several searches were conducted in the early hours of Monday in the penitentiary and property in Lomas del Mirador, El Palomar and Monte Grande, in Buenos Aires province. Four other people were arrested, and the three inmates were transferred to a federal prison as “high risk” detainees. If you or someone you know has had thoughts of harming themself or taking their own life, help is available. You can phone 011-5275-1135 or 0800-345-1435 nationwide to reach the Centro de Asistencia al Suicida’s 24/7 crisis lifeline —  if you’re in Buenos Aires, dial 135 for their toll-free helpline.