THE POLICE Service of Northern Ireland has warned people about the potential for 'romance scams' ahead of Valentine's Day, after it confirmed that one woman was deceived out of over £130,000 last year.
The incident was just one of 80 romance scams reported to police in 2021, and happened in April 2021.
"This is a heart-breaking statistic, but it is also a personal story of a female who has had their life ruined by someone they grew to trust and build a relationship with," said the Chair of the ScamwiseNI Partnership Superintendent Gerard Pollock. "That’s why we know this crime is unreported, with victims sometimes too embarrassed to report it to police."
The PSNI is encouraging people to be on the lookout for scammers who want to take advantage of those who may be looking for friendship, companionship or love online, particularly ahead of Valentine's Day when more people may be using dating apps.
"Fraudsters will seek to build a relationship quickly and try to get you to chat or text away from the dating site or app you first met them on. This allows them to keep in contact if their profile is deleted for being fake.
"They appear very interested in you, very quickly, but will have lots of excuses for not being able to meet in person, a family emergency or a work problem that’s just come up.
"Soon they will ask you for money to help them sort out their problems or to help them come meet you, perhaps to pay for travel, all the while assuring you it will be paid back to you. You will continually be reassured it’s just this one thing, just this amount and then they’ll be able to come meet you.
"However, they have no intention of doing so because they do not exist. All they wanted was your money and to get as much of it as possible."
Steps that individuals can take to protect themselves from romance scams include keeping the conversation on the app, checking social media accounts and photos for inconsistencies and never sending money to someone you haven't met in person.
"Romance scammers don’t care about your gender, sexuality, age or race," Pollock said. "They target everyone, please don’t let it be you."
