Man jailed for five years after £128k romance fraud

Maxwell Rusey, formerly of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court

A man behind a romance fraud in which a Medway woman was scammed out of more than £120,000 has been jailed for five years.

Maxwell Rusey, formerly of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on 23 September.

In May 2023, a woman came forward to tell police she had transferred a lot of money to a man she had met online, but now believed she had been defrauded.

She had joined a website to meet new people and had been contacted by a man who claimed to be an army officer involved in "covert operations" in Mali.

Following further messages between the two, the man said he wanted to live with the victim when he returned to the UK.

He told her he had a consignment of gold which he needed to import back to the UK and asked if she could help his friend pay the relevant duties and taxes.

The woman agreed and, in 16 separate transactions in 2022 and 2023, paid £128,500 into accounts the man claimed belonged to his colleague.

Detectives from Kent Police discovered that Rusey was responsible for setting up the accounts.

'Particularly cruel offence'

He was arrested in March 2024 and later charged with fraud and money laundering offences after a fake passport used to set up one of the accounts was found in his possession.

The 53-year-old admitted money laundering and possession of articles for use in fraud.

Det Con Mark Newman said: "Romance fraud is a particularly cruel offence which causes serious emotional harm for victims, as well as the financial impact it entails.

"Many victims struggle to report offences due to the level of deception used by fraudsters and I would like to praise the victim in this case for coming forward and supporting this prosecution."