Romance Fraud Message

On this month’s programme the Crimecall team went on location with Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan from the Garda Economic Crime Bureau and Dr. Nicola Fox Hamilton (Cyberpsychologist).

They both advised the public to beware of romance fraud and criminals who are taking advantage of an increase in the popularity of dating apps among those seeking romance. Dr Fox gave her professional insight in to what’s known as “social engineering”, and how criminals learn as much as they can and building trust with the victim, including using information that the victim has put online about themselves.

Detective Sergeant Niall Smith was on hand in studio and spoke about the complex nature and difficulty associated with these type of investigations. Niall explained that organised crime groups operate throughout the world, and therefore across multiple jurisdictions.

"It is often the case that a victim’s money is transferred overseas to fund organised criminal activities such as terrorism, human trafficking, people smuggling and even corruption. An Garda Síochána work closely with both Europol and Interpol to disrupt those involved in fraud of this nature as part of our investigations into romance frauds.

Niall explained that crimes of this nature tend to be highly lucrative for these organised crime groups and prove difficult for victims to recover their money. Of the victims that have come forward to An Garda Síochána since 2020, the majority were female and their average financial loss was approximately €30,000. The highest reported loss by a female in Ireland was over €450,000 stolen in 18 transactions, while one male victim had more than €380,000 taken.

Tactics used by Fraudsters:

Typically, a scam will start on a dating website/app – after a while, the victim is persuaded to move the conversation away from the app and onto a messaging service like WhatsApp.
Fraudsters often follow a script and their operation can be very professional.
Fraudsters can also work in ‘normal’ jobs that require good customer service so they know how to ‘talk the talk’.
Fraudsters often pose as a white, middle-aged male who is divorced or widowed in sad circumstances to elicit sympathy.
They often pose as having ‘good’ jobs but ones that keep them away for extended periods of time such as engineers on oil rigs or doctors in war zones like Gaza.
This also explains a time-zone difference that prevents them from talking on the phone with the victim.
They often use photographs taken from innocent people’s social media to build their own online profile.
They message the victims for several months, learning as much as they can about them (job, location, hobbies, what type of car or holiday they have etc). They use this information to build a rapport with the victim (pretend they have similar hobbies) while also learning whether the victim has enough money to make it worth their while to target them.
This is known as ‘social engineering’ – learning as much as they can and building trust with the victim, including using information that the victim has put online e.g. their job, family status, holidays.
The Fraudsters will sometimes repay the victim for the first instalment of money they receive. This builds trust and the victim is more willing to send larger sums.
They begin by asking for small amounts of money for legitimate sounding reasons – they need to pay a bill before their payday, they had their credit cards stolen, they are waiting on an inheritance to come through, they need to pay legal fees to have a large sum of money released etc.
They often promise that they are about to come into a large amount of money e.g. an insurance pay out after an accident or death of a spouse, an inheritance etc. This is designed to reassure the victim.
Most victims of romance fraud are women although there are men as well (e.g. an 80-year-old Irish man lost €30,000). With male victims, the fraud often moves to Sextortion quicker where the victim is convinced to send intimate images/videos and then are blackmailed to provide money to the scammer. Although it is worth noting that women have been victims too.
Nowadays, many victims are persuaded to ‘invest’ in Crypto currencies. They will encourage their victim to invest on the basis that they will make a quick profit, and the fraudster will even go so far as to provide all the expertise to facilitate the transaction(s). The most common conclusion is that a victim will begin to start asking questions of their money and when it becomes apparent that it has been stolen, the fraudster will cut contact and block them. Once reported, the investigation into these crimes will usually indicate that the victim’s money has been transferred to a bank account, Crypto account or what is known as a ‘Cold Storage Wallet’ or a ‘Cold Wallet’ outside of Ireland.

An Garda Síochána’s advice:

Use a reputable dating site and its messaging function to help avoid moving to social media or texting too quickly.
Be careful with how much you share about your personal circumstances, and never give anyone access to your computer.
These dating sites often use algorithms to find people using multiple different profiles from the same IP address, and this is a protection for the potential victim.
Take the image(s) they are using on their profile and Google Reverse Image Search
Be careful of what personal details you share on your profile and do not give your address, a copy of your passport or driving licence.
Be wary of anyone asking lots of questions about you but not revealing much about themselves, or anyone asking you to video call but they won’t

Never, ever send money or give your bank details including online banking password to someone you have met online
Do not make any payment on the pretence that they visit you
Do not invest your money in any opportunity offered by a person that you’ve connected with online - always seek independent financial and legal advice
Do not download any app that they ask you to i.e. Any Desk
If you become suspicious, save all your correspondence with the individual and immediately make contact with your bank and any Garda Station
Look out for inconsistencies like they’re university educated, but their spelling and grammar is below average.
Act on instinct if you spot gaps in their story which can often occur as the fraudster mixes up which victim they are speaking with.

If you have previously been or believe that you are a victim of a romance scam, please speak with us at any Garda Station. This can very easily happen and no one should feel embarrassed, we are here to help and will treat every report in confidence.”