A woman from Northern Ireland has been swindled out of £112,000 by a fraudster in a devastating romance scam.
The woman met the fraudster online on a dating app and as the relationship developed over the last year, the scammer convinced the woman to ‘invest’ her money in cryptocurrency.
The promise was a quick profit, which never materialised.
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Police have now issued a fresh warning for the public to be vigilant.
Chair of ScamwiseNI Partnership, PSNI Superintendent Gerard Pollock, said: “While many of us have watched a recent documentary about this type of fraud, few of us will have experienced the devastating impact of falling victim of these criminals.
“Sadly, this is an example of this type of crime happening right here, right now in Northern Ireland where a real life victim has lost her life savings. Not only is there the stark realisation for the victim that she has been scammed, but also have to deal with and cope with the financial fallout. It’s heart breaking.”
Superintendent Pollock added: “In February this year, I warned of the dangers of romance scams in the run up to Valentine’s Day, but this shows these crimes happen at any time of the year. It may start with a message on a social media account or an apparently misdirected text message.
“Fraudsters will then seek to build a relationship quickly and try to get you to chat or text away from the dating site or app you first met them…
