Police in Stirling are urging residents to be wary of so-called ‘romance scams’ as Valentine’s Day approaches after one Stirling woman was conned out of more than £20,000 by a brazen crook.
Romance fraud involves victims being convinced to make a payment to a person they’ve met either through social media or on a dating website.
Fake profiles are used by criminals in an attempt to build a relationship with potential victims – known as ‘catfishing’.
In Stirling, a 65-year-old widow was swindled out of over £20,000 after checking a dating website for a suitable man for companionship and possibly a relationship.
The woman was contacted by a man who told her that he was looking for friendship, that he was currently employed by the military, and was based in the Middle East.
Over the course of the proceeding four weeks, the pair messaged each other constantly and the woman believed that a relationship was developing between them.
The man advised her that he was also a widower and had family living in America.
All contact was extremely friendly, with the man going out of his way to make contact at times suitable to the woman.
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After a connection was established between the two, the man began to request sums of money for a number of reasons, including mobile phone top-ups, new phones and gradually began to increase his demands for money for medical bills, educational bills for his children and flights to the UK to visit the woman.
The distraught victim, believing that she was in a relationship, went along with his requests for money and forwarded him in excess of £20,000 over a short period of time.
PC Brian McKie, of the Stirling police’s Safer Communities team, said: “Victims of romance fraud can often be very vulnerable due to a number of factors including, but not limited to, social isolation, a marriage split or moving to a new area with no family or friends to support them.”
PC McKie also provided advice to warn potential victims of the telltale signs to look out for, including staying on site and keeping all communication on the dating website you are using and don’t be convinced by profile pictures they may have been taken from somewhere else on the internet.
Photos can be checked by using a reverse image search on the internet, through websites like https://www.tineye.com/ or https://reverse.photos/.
You should also do your own research on the person, including social media profiles.
PC McKie added: “Never send money to someone you have not met in person. Be extremely wary of giving money to someone you have only recently met, particularly if you have only recently started a relationship with them.
“Be wary of anyone asking you to receive money on their behalf and transferring it on.
“They may be using you to launder money.
“Talk to family and friends for advice even if the other party is asking you to keep the relationship secret, and ask ‘why are they asking that?’.
“Fraudsters are very plausible and see this as their job. By completing the above checks you can protect yourself and your money from falling into the hands of unscrupulous fraudsters.”
For more information regarding frauds and scams, go to www.scotland.police.uk
