Heartless romance fraudsters have swindled nearly €1million in the past year from people who are searching for love.
Garda statistics, which were released yesterday, revealed over €812,000 was stolen by these kind of scams in the first five months of 2022.
Each of the 31 victims – 23 women and eight men – live in Ireland but the money they were conned out of was transferred out of the country to different accounts or to Bitcoin wallets.
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Det Supt Michael Cryan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau told the Irish Mirror: “The victims could be anywhere in the world. The fraudsters would have an account in a different country.
“In these cases, the victims were based in Ireland and their money went abroad. The victim is in one country and the laundering is always in another country.”
Last September, a woman in Hungary was scammed and paid $4,000 to an Irish bank account, police there established.
They contacted Det Supt Cryan’s team through Interpol and found that over €109,000 had been paid into the same account from 12 victims between up to October 2021.
The victims – who paid in 46 different transactions – lived in Germany, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Poland and the UK.
Once their money was put into the account, the money was immediately withdrawn in cash.
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Det Supt Cryan said: “The first victim was Hungarian. The money was laundered through an account in Ireland.
“When we looked at the account we saw there were other victims in the other EU countries.”
Earlier this month, investigators arrested a foreign man living here but the case remains under investigation.
Cruel scammers stole €16million last year by preying on lonely people, including those with learning difficulties, during the pandemic by posing as romantic love interests, a report by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland said.
The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau has now issued warnings about increasing incidents of the scams and issued advice to stay safe on online dating sites and other social media which crooks use to target their victims.
Gardai warned that the fraudsters provide the victims with “well-prepared stories designed to deceive” and “develop online relationships” by using “fake identities, photographs and life stories” until they “inevitably ask their victim for money”.
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Investigators say the fraudster will continue to ask for cash until the victim has no more to give or realise they are being deceived.
Det Supt Cryan insists that people should use reputable dating sites and use their messaging service. He added: “And mind your personal data. Don’t give away too much information.
“Don’t give away your personal bank details or where you live. Do not move to social media or texting too quickly.”
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