Australia Australia - Marion Barter - Missing After Trip to UK - June 1997 #18

[TootsieFootsie]

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/marion-barter-inquest-to-hear-evidence-from-conman-ric-blums-93yearold-victim/news-story/808d5aa687f97ffdd6157f4336fa8b3c?amp

 

[mishy66]

It has come to my attention that there is a FB account for Ric Blum, which we do not know is genuine but was being used in 2014. In 2014 a pic was put on of the cruise ship AIDAbella which strangely sounds like Florabella.

Facebook

www.facebook.com

Looking at the history of the AIDAbella a German crew member disappeared from the ship in 2018 in suspicious curcumstances.

Crew Member Missing From AIDAbella

German newspapers are reporting that a crewmember, identified by his first name as "Mathias," disappeared from the AIDAbella cruise ship earlier this

www.cruiselawnews.com

Cruise Passengers Overboard

www.cruisejunkie.com

@MrsWattle did find this link some time back. I think it was found to not be related

 

[TootsieFootsie]

@MrsWattle did find this link some time back. I think it was found to not be related

I must have missed it before.

 

[CuriousKat99]

Tip of the iceberg IMO all of this.

Think about the other types of women that sick predators go for first - the vulnerable, elderly, disabled. Pregnant women, very young women, emotionally fragile women, those with alcohol or drug problems, desperate women, homeless women, disabled or impaired women, elderly housebound women, isolated or lonely women with no families or support networks, migrants, people who don't have good spoken English ... bet your life he's been fleecing these types who have no voice whatsoever the whole time too. All around the world.

That's my opinion anyway JMO MOO.

We're only hearing from the people who were well set up in life enough that they are (cautiously) able to speak up now.

Yes agree, definitely the tip of the iceberg. He had it down to a fine art. Targeting the most vulnerable, humiliating them and exploiting every possible loophole, plus plenty of cover stories to keep authorities away for so long that evidence disappeared with the passage of time. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were plenty more victims, both dead and alive.

 

[DerZuschauer]

Two more articles in Luxemburg:

Third Belgian widow said she is victim of serial conman

Man with Luxembourg links is main witness in missing Australian woman case

www.luxtimes.lu

Weitere belgische Witwe belastet Serienbetrüger Ric Blum

Die 93-jährige Andrée Flamme wird in der Anhörung aussagen - und Ric Blum, den Australier mit Verbindungen nach Luxemburg, schwer belasten.

www.wort.lu

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Thank You @DerZuschauer.

I was able to read the second article.

 

[KinseyFan]

Thanks for sharing those articles. I keep coming back to whether he’s currently scamming more victims. Wonder if he’s topping up his disability pension. Is he being watched? Is his online presence monitored? Hope I haven’t broken rules asking these questions.

 

[mishy66]

Thanks for sharing those articles. I keep coming back to whether he’s currently scamming more victims. Wonder if he’s topping up his disability pension. Is he being watched? Is his online presence monitored? Hope I haven’t broken rules asking these questions.

Probs in some sort of 'safe house' by now. Hiding from the world and working on how to have dementia!

 

[MrsWattle]

Probs in some sort of 'safe house' by now. Hiding from the world and working on how to have dementia!

That would have to be solitary confinement so that he doesn't scam others.

 

[KinseyFan]

That would have to be solitary confinement so that he doesn't scam others.

Without access to the internet.I wouldn’t put it past him, to see the value in becoming tech savvy.
I get so angry about a system that’s failed to weed out predators like him. Pretty much sending a strong message that if you’re the victim of coercive control/ emotional intimidation, any resultant theft is your own fault. And most of his victims are older women, some going through a vulnerable period. I know I’m banging on

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Without access to the internet.I wouldn’t put it past him, to see the value in becoming tech savvy.
I get so angry about a system that’s failed to weed out predators like him. Pretty much sending a strong message that if you’re the victim of coercive control/ emotional intimidation, any resultant theft is your own fault. And most of his victims are older women, some going through a vulnerable period. I know I’m banging on

You're so right though.

 

[CuriousKat99]

Without access to the internet.I wouldn’t put it past him, to see the value in becoming tech savvy.
I get so angry about a system that’s failed to weed out predators like him. Pretty much sending a strong message that if you’re the victim of coercive control/ emotional intimidation, any resultant theft is your own fault. And most of his victims are older women, some going through a vulnerable period. I know I’m banging on

100% agree. We should all be banging on about this in order to drive change. It’s shocking how weak the law is in relation to psychological abuse and manipulation.

 

[CuriousKat99]

Thanks for sharing those articles. I keep coming back to whether he’s currently scamming more victims. Wonder if he’s topping up his disability pension. Is he being watched? Is his online presence monitored? Hope I haven’t broken rules asking these questions.

In the inquest he spoke about all the women on line. How does he know this…? He’s got to be still active, he would simply have moved his operations onto the dark web. Let’s hope authorities are monitoring him and not giving him a moment’s peace.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

In the inquest he spoke about all the women on line. How does he know this…? He’s got to be still active, he would simply have moved his operations onto the dark web. Let’s hope authorities are monitoring him and not giving him a moment’s peace.

Yes, I was just going to say that. Did he not say something like 'there's thousands of them on the internet' or suchlike?

 

[KinseyFan]

In the inquest he spoke about all the women on line. How does he know this…? He’s got to be still active, he would simply have moved his operations onto the dark web. Let’s hope authorities are monitoring him and not giving him a moment’s peace.

Oooh..I forgot about him saying that -you’re right. It struck me at the time because his attitude and wording depersonalised “women”, kind of referring to them as throwaway inaminate objects. I’d love to hear more from Laura Richards about this.

 

[KinseyFan]

Yes, I was just going to say that. Did he not say something like 'there's thousands of them on the internet' or suchlike?

Good memory- yes! I’m pretty sure he did say ‘thousands’. Spine chilling.

 

[CuriousKat99]

Oooh..I forgot about him saying that -you’re right. It struck me at the time because his attitude and wording depersonalised “women”, kind of referring to them as throwaway inaminate objects. I’d love to hear more from Laura Richards about this.

He has no empathy or regard for his fellow human beings and his multiple comments about women just demonstrated this. I’m hoping Laura does an extended analysis in addition to the brief snippets we have had so far. There is so much to unpack as she would say.

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

When he talks about ‘the mother’ and later when he talks about her death it appears to me that his low opinion of women goes back a very long way. That’s assuming ‘the mother’ he refers to was actually his real birth mother.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I think he has contempt for women.

 

[*juniper*]

..... I wouldn’t put it past him, to see the value in becoming tech savvy.

MOO is that he is (or was) totally tech savvy. IIRC GGB reported him receiving phone calls from a woman while she was driving, which led her (GGB) to believe that AKA was married. This was in 1998, so still relatively early for a mobile phone in Australia. And I am pretty sure that ER talked about AKA having a mobile phone number, but I can't remember where I read that information.

The few people I knew who had mobiles in the 1990s tended to be tech savvy & early adopters. Unlike AKA they were also juggling busy professional lives. So, if AKA could see the value in having a mobile phone back then, I am sure he would have been open to other new technology developments including the internet - he certainly had plenty of time on his hands to explore options and the motivation to find new ways to identify targets. Of course, his signature MO is to avoid leaving any trail so I am sure he would have been as equally dodgy with his on-line identity as he was with his real life name & address changes.

Basic internet skills would be very useful in allowing him to monitor his targets from a distance. It is not lost on me that AKA targeted AF after the death of her husband. How did he find out about this? How many other victims are there?