Published:
10:42 AM February 11, 2022
A woman in east Suffolk was conned out of more than £40,000 after falling victim to an online dating scam.
Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Suffolk Trading Standards has issued a warning to singletons looking for romance over potential fraud.
It used the example of the woman in Halesworth, who got in contact with someone posing as Dutch GP on dating website Match.com.
The pair built up a rapport over WhatsApp, but the man then claimed his bank accounts had been hacked and frozen before asking the woman for a significant loan to pay for his ill father’s medical bills.
The woman never received her money back but was able to seek compensation from her bank with support from Suffolk Trading Standards.
In another case, a man from Sudbury lost almost £10,000 to a woman he met on Tinder.
As their conversations progressed to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, she claimed to be a nurse who was struggling financially.
This led to the victim sending her multiple bank payments ranging from £20 to £500 each time.
But when the man tried to arrange a face-to-face meeting with the woman, she stopped all contact and her social media accounts disappeared.
After realising he had been duped, the man contacted Suffolk Trading Standards – which is investigating the scammer.
Andrew Reid, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for public health, public protection and communities, said: “Anyone can fall victim to romance scammers as they often…
