CUFFING season – where single people seek short-term partners during the colder months – is in full swing.
But with more women than ever before looking for love online, many are being swindled out of thousands of pounds.
Figures from Victim Support show a 13 per cent rise in romance fraud over the past year.
Around 250,000 women have been scammed, according to NatWest, with fraudsters posing as love interests.
Here, Yasmin Harisha speaks to two women who found themselves out of pocket while looking for their perfect match.
‘I lost friends, my two sons and my partner of 29 years’, Sharon, 51
SHARON Bulmer was two years into her relationship before she realised the lonely soldier she had fallen for was a sick fraudster.
It started in May 2020, when a handsome stranger called Murphy Townsend from the US added the married mum of two, an administrator from Manchester, on Facebook.
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She recalls: “He said he was lonely and serving in Syria in the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team at Base 29 in Raqqa.
“He told me he was 56 and his wife had passed away and he wanted someone to speak to.
“Murphy was sweet, nothing at all made me think anything…
