FORMER CARE WORKER LOST £22k TO ONLINE DATING SCAM
- Conman faked an accident as part of scam
- Victim lost all of her life-savings
- Law firm warns of scammers lurking on online dating sites
- National Fraud Helpline issues advice on romance scam help
We helped to recover £22,000 lost to a romance scam by a former careworker.
As part of our fraud awareness campaign we have also issued seven top tips in the media on how to avoid falling victim to dating fraud. The story featured across two pages in the Sunday Mirror newsaper.
The 68-year-old former care worker’s life was ‘torn to bits’ by a callous romance scammer who stole her life-savings after she met him through an online dating site.
Julia Simpson, 67, (not her real name) was contacted by a man pretending to be a 58-year-old widower from Cambridge calling himself ‘Daniel Peeters’ after she posted her profile on Match.com.
The fraudster wooed Julia, who lives in Cheshire, with romantic phone calls and expensive flowers. As part of the con he even claimed to have been in an accident and played heart monitor beeping sounds down the phone.
After being tricked into falling in love with the scammer, Julia sent him more than £22,000 between June and November, last year, when he made up a variety of excuses as to why he urgently needed to borrow money.
National Fraud Helpline solicitors, who last week managed to recover all of Julia’s money from her bank as part of a fraud reclaim scheme, warned that scammers are regularly targeting older women on dating sites such as Match.com and Tinder.
Leo McGowan, a lawyer at National Fraud Helpline solicitors, said: ‘Dating sites have become a key target for scammers. They prey on the fact that people are lonely and seem to be targeting older women, in particular.
‘They will often claim to be someone a few years younger than the victim and make up their own sob story. To make themselves seem real they will send handwritten love letters and cards through the post, as well as gifts ranging from flowers to ornaments and jewellery.
‘Romance scammers tend to be very patient and will take months to lure their victims in before taking their money. They will keep going until their victim is left penniless.’
Fighting back tears, Julia said: “It left me absolutely torn to bits. I sometimes sit down and cry.
“He told me he loved me and we would get married, but it’s not just the emotions and it’s not the love bombing. We were in tune mentally in a lot of ways, and he betrayed my trust.”
Julia’s ordeal began in May, last year, when she signed up to the online dating website initially looking for friendship rather than romance.
She started chatting to Peeters on the phone, who told her he was originally from Ghent, Belgium but now lived in England with his teenage son.
The scammer sent her photographs, which he claimed were of himself, but Julia has since discovered were of German journalist.
Julia was meant to meet Peeters in June, last year, but he pulled out of the meeting, claiming he had to go to New York to discuss a business contract with jewellery brand Pandora, and to buy some gold.
Julia said: “Things were beginning to be romantic, and he sent me some expensive flowers as an apology.
“He even mentioned the name of the hotel he was staying at, and I remember looking it up and it looked like a very expensive hotel.”
Over the next four months, Peeters concocted a series of lies to extract as much money from Julia as he could.
The scam started small, with a request for her to pay £50 for a pre-paid SIM card for his mobile phone, which he said could only be done in England.
The request for larger amounts of money soon came when the fraudster claimed he had bought too much gold and that his bank account had been frozen. He sent Julia a faked bank account receipt which appeared to show he had £2 million.
Over the next few months, Julia sent thousands of pounds to bank accounts nominated by Peeters who said he was stuck abroad . He claimed the account holders would then meet him in New York and hand him the money.
Just when she thought he had managed to book a flight home with help from a friend, the fraudster called Julia claiming he had been in an accident.
“He was frantic, and told me he was phoning from hospital,” she said. “He told me he had hurt his foot, knee and chest in a road accident in a taxi on the way to the airport, and he needed money for cortisone injections. I could hear what sounded like a monitor machine beeping, and I believed him.”
Peeters said he needed more money to stay in a hotel near the hospital while he recuperated before flying home, and Julia continued to make payments.
“He even sent me a photograph of his leg with an ice pack on the knee and, to be fair, it did look swollen,” she said.
Julia had doubts, and started to accuse Peeters of scamming her but he replied asking to marrying her.
“I’m still taking it all in that it really was a scam, and I just can’t get my head around it,” she said. “I always thought I was switched on and canny. But now it’s finished, over. I’ve got to start thinking of me.”
As a result of the scams, Julia was looking at going into a debt management plan because her finances were so dire.
She has now received all her money back from Co-op Bank after National Fraud Helpline solicitors inetervened.
Julia said: “I was shocked, pleased, and relieved to get the money back, mixed in with guilt. It means a lot, because it makes me feel less stupid. My judgement was wrong. I will never do this again.”
7 Key Signs You May Be Dating A Romance Scammer:
- They tell you very early that they love you.
- They tell you not to tell anyone about your relationship
- They claim to be in the armed forces.
- They tell you that they are based overseas.
- They have excuses as to why they can’t do live video calls.
- They ask you to send money via gift cards
- They have an emergency that means they desperately need money.
Find out more information about romance scams and how to avoid falling victim to them.
Have you lost money to a scam? Contact National Fraud Helpline. Call 0333 0033218 or fill out our Claim Form.