'Romance scam' warning after widow loses £500k

Cambridgeshire Police's cyber and fraud prevention team see four incidents of romance fraud a week

A police force says "education is key" in preventing romance fraud, after a woman in her 70s was scammed out of more than £500,000 and left homeless.

Dave York, of the Cambridgeshire Police cyber and fraud prevention team, said it saw four incidents a week, but that bringing criminals to justice was "often almost impossible".

The victim was deceived by a fraudster claiming to be the Hollywood actor Jason Mamoa, who promised her a new life in a luxury house in Hawaii.

"To the outsider it is completely unbelievable," Mr York said. "But when you're in a place of vulnerability through bereavement and through stress, there's a lot of psychological impact that will lead people into this situation."

"The best weapons we have are education, awareness and disruption of the scam," he added.

Data obtained by the BBC last year showed cases of romance fraud had risen by almost 60% over four years.

The team engages with victims or concerned family members who report a crime, said Dave York

Mr York said the victim had been recently widowed after a 50-year marriage and was "lonely and disturbed".

She was targeted over a period of about three years after she was first contacted by the scammer on social media.

"Being in quite a vulnerable state, the victim was easily manipulated by what we think are organised criminals who are very adept in identifying weaknesses in victims and exploiting them to the fullest degree really," he said.

"She was encouraged to even sell her house and send more money which has now left her homeless and in a lot of debt."

'One step ahead'

Mr York said: "There are two sort of key factors that prevent us from tracing these people.

"They are organised criminals and they don't leave an easy trail - and move money quickly and through cryptocurrency, which is unregulated and untraceable beyond a certain point.

"And a lot of the time they are out of our jurisdiction, and the volume of this type of crime is so high that we don't have the resources to trace these people."

He said "education, awareness and trying to disrupt these things either before they happen or nip them in the bud before they bloom into full-blown scams" was the only way to save a victim.

He said banks were on top of the issue but feared "criminals are always one step ahead".

The UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, Action Fraud, also issued advice on how to spot and report a romance scam.