Scammers use increasingly sophisticated techniques to target lonely people in Romance Fraud

Diana, one of the victims who have agreed to take part in police videos, was “groomed out of my life savings”

Metropolitan Police launch ‘Romance Fraud’ campaign to raise awareness of the techniques the fraudsters use

The Metropolitan Police is launching a campaign to help the public identify ‘Romance Fraud – a growing crime that targets victims through deception, emotional manipulation and financial exploitation’. Last year alone, an estimated £106 million was lost to Romance Fraud.

They have issued a series of short video interviews with people who have been conned, and members of their families.

Sarah’s story is typical. She discovered her 60-year-old widowed mother had been chatting online with someone called Paul for over a year, and when her mother went into hospital and she went to pick up some personal items for her, she came across evidence that really worried her.

Metropolitan Police video

Sarah’s story

‘Paul’ said he worked on the oil rigs and had a house in Blackpool. Sarah became suspicious and she confronted her mum about the relationship:

“I asked to see a photo of what Paul looked like. My mum showed me one, and I would say that it was AI influenced.

“Majority of the conversations were over WhatsApp. Never video on, so it was only voice. Never could see him. Signal wasn’t strong enough, or he wasn’t able to because of security. All these things used as excuses not to show what he looked like.

“A red flag moment for me, that my mum didn’t know the extent of how much money she’d sent”

“The way I discovered it, my mum was in hospital, so my mum wasn’t actually at home, and when I was having to get belongings to take to my mum in hospital, I found an envelope in a drawer, and it were just full of Amazon gift cards worth £6,000.

“I just thought ‘there’s something not right’, so I confronted my mum about the Amazon gift cards, to which she denied that there had been £6,000 worth, and that she was only talking to Paul and sending him the odd gift card when he wanted it, and that was a red flag moment for me, that my mum didn’t know the extent of how much money she’d sent.

“And that’s when you put two and two together”.

Screen grab from Metropolitan Police video of Sarah’s story

From sending the odd present to an attentive man, to money laundering

In the case of Sarah’s mother, she had not only handed over money in the form of presents, but she had been drawn in by the fraudsters to laundering money.

“I contacted the police and that’s when I made the call that I think my mum’s subject to a romance fraud.

“They’d got my mum with the Amazon gift cards, so my mum didn’t think she was doing anything wrong. However, they quickly moved on to bank transfers. Then they moved her on to cryptocurrency. They moved her on to opening bank accounts, so it weren’t actually her cash, she was just money laundering cash.

“I also discovered my mum had remortgaged her house. Thankfully I had got power of attorney that was ready to put in place should I need to. I didn’t think I would be doing it for this, however, I was able to put it in place quick, so my mum didn’t lose any money”.

“One of the most devastating types of fraud we deal with”

The fraudsters prey on loneliness and vulnerability and groom their victims using tried and tested techniques.

“Romance fraud is one of the most devastating types of fraud we deal with, and it can happen to anybody at any time”, says Detective Superintendent Kerry Wood, Head of Economic Crime for the Met Police.

“Romance Fraud doesn’t just lead to people losing thousands of pounds – it’s also an abuse of trust which has a devasting impact on people’s confidence and sense of self-worth”.

The fraudsters will usually:

• create a story that sounds believable and start the relationship in a normal way
• gain your trust over time
• invent a problem or situation where you may feel like you want to send money or gifts to help them
• isolate you from friends or family

If you are speaking to someone online, it is vital to verify who they are, she says, and openness about it can be the best defence:

“Recognising the language used by criminals is key and this is often identified by friends and family rather than the victim themselves”.

Fraudsters use fake identities, stolen photos, and elaborate stories to manipulate people into sending money and increasingly, they are using AI to make their scams even more convincing.

Video grab from video interview with a fraudster the BBC’s Tir Dhondy spoke to in Lagos, Nigeria

Meeting the ‘Yahoo Boys’ in downtown Lagos

BBC News reporter Tir Dhondy recently went to Lagos, Nigeria, where she managed to make contact with a group of scammers and even film them. She was taken to a ‘Hustle Kingdom’ in one of the city’s poorest districts.

‘Watching these men work, I realised how far removed this was from the lone scammers. This was organised, efficient and relentless – a system designed to extract as much money as possible’, she wrote.

‘Inside the small room, a dozen young men sat with laptops on their knees, all their phones buzzing with messages from potential targets. The atmosphere was like a call centre – they swapped fake profiles, traded scripts, and passed around the names of new victims’.

Tir was trying to find a particular conman who had driven a 16 year old boy in the United States to suicide when he had been persuaded to send over intimate pictures of himself, thinking he was sending them to a girl his age, and then been blackmailed, killing himself just 90 minutes after he received the final message: “I have your nudes and everything needed to ruin your life”.

‘Sextortion’ is considered worse than romance scams, the Nigerian fraudsters told her: ‘In this Hustle Kingdom, sextortion was seen as shameful’. Romance scams, not so much.

Ola, one of the ‘Yahoo Boys’ Tir met in Lagos told her:

“I don’t feel bad, I need the money.”

Sarah’s story is one of many which show the damage these scams do to their victims.

“She was in love with him, and I think she thought that she was going to meet him, and that whatever money he was asking for, whether a gift card, transfer, whatever, I think she genuinely thought she’d get it back.

“Whether that was by him moving over and they’d live together or whatever, but yes, I do think she was in love with him”

“They’re not bothered that they’ve preyed on somebody’s loneliness”.

To watch more videos of victims’ experiences of romance fraud, produced by the Met in collaboration with West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit and City of London Police, go here:
Met Police videos on Romance Fraud

To read more about Romance Fraud and the tricks used by the fraudsters, go here:
Met Police information on Romance Fraud

To report an incident, report to Action Fraud, by calling 0300 123 2040 or visiting their website. You can also report it anonymously to Crimestoppers here and get support by visiting LoveSaid.

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