Online romance scams in UK hit record numbers in 2016

According to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau and Action Fraud in the UK, online romance scams have managed to dupe victims in the UK out of a record amount of money, with losses for the year standing at at least 39 million pounds.

That’s up from 27 million in 2013, 32 million in 2014 and 25 million in 2015. The deputy head of Action Fraud told The Victoria Derbyshire Programme that the average victim lost a staggering £10,000 in these emotionally devastating scams. And these stats only take into account what people have officially declared. It is likely that many victims are too ashamed to ever admit they were conned out of their money.

One victim who wished to remain anonymous, lost a whopping £300,000. She said –

“It escalated unbelievably quickly, so straight away it was the medical fees, then it was money for food, money needed to pay rent, money for taxes to get out of Turkey.

What was also revealing is that many of the victims were well educated and did not fit the profile for those that you may had initially thought were vulnerable to such a scam. One victim, Judith Lathlean, who lost £140,000 to a romance scammer, was a university professor. In an interview, she claimed she was “bowled over” by “John”, the name the scammer used. See that interview below –

Romance scams work by scammers targeting often vulnerable people who have turned to the Internet to date. The scammers contact their victims and build a relationship with them, conducted exclusively online. After a while, the scammers gain the trust of their victims and begin coming up with excuses as to why they need money, which is then stolen from the victims, with little chance of the victim ever managing to recuperate their losses.

Many of these scams are operated by professional organised criminal gangs who have become experts in gaining the trust of victims over the Internet. They will use fake names, fake photos, fake details and fake stories. All designed to both attract the victim and attain their trust.

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If you (or someone you know) is involved with online dating, read these tips and red flags –

– The first and most important rule is this; DO NOT give money to people you have only met on the Internet. These criminals are experts at building rapport and gaining trust, in an attempt to lure you into handing over your money. Whatever you believe, just do not give your money to people you have met online.

– The same applies to personal information about you such as your address or any kind of banking information. Don’t reveal any of this information to people you have only met online.

– Criminals want to apply pressure, so they will often claim they need money urgently – often claiming they are in trouble, or need to pay urgent medical bills or need money to leave a country they are visiting. Be extremely suspicious of any “sob story” that attempts to lure you into providing any kind of aid.

– Watch out for people who make excuses as to why they cannot meet in the real world. While online dating does – of course – start online, scammers will create excuses as to why they cannot meet in the real world. For example, they are working abroad.

– Be wary of those who seem keen to leave the confines of the dating site where you met and move the conversation over to instant messaging services. Dating sites have various tools to spot abnormal behaviour and to subsequently delete offending accounts, so criminals want to move their means of contact with a victim away from the dating sites as soon as possible

– Do reverse image searches (images.google.com) on photos you get sent to see if the photos are being used elsewhere on the Internet under different names. Romance criminals don’t use their own photos – they pick them up elsewhere on the Internet.

– Pay attention to language, specifically persistent spelling or grammar errors. Romance criminals often originate from non-English speaking countries, and their grasp of English may be poor.