Valentine's Day: Romance fraud in Hampshire sees victims scammed out of millions of pounds

Statistics from Action Fraud, compiled by National World’s data team, have revealed that 277 dating scams were reported in Hampshire last year, costing its victims a staggering £2.3m. Many more victims are also thought to be too embarrassed to report the matter to police.

Across the UK, victims of romance fraud lost a combined £88m in 2022.

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Temporary Detective Chief Superintendent Matt Bradford, from the City of London Police, which helps to run Action Fraud, said: ‘Typically, romance fraudsters will spend weeks gaining their victims’ trust, feeding them fabricated stories about who they are and their lives - and initially make no suggestion of any desire to ask for any money, so the victim may believe their new love interest is genuine.

‘But weeks, or sometimes months later, these criminals will ask for money for a variety of emotive reasons and as the emotional relationship has already been formed, victims often transfer money without a second thought.’

Scammers will usually target victims on social media platforms, particularly Facebook, or dating apps such as Tinder. They might then try to move the conversation onto another private messaging platform, like WhatsApp.

Eventually they will start to tell stories about family or legal issues, business problems or medical bills. They might appear reluctant to accept any help at first, or request smaller amounts, but this is all part of the con. Over time they convince their victim to send more and more money.

Three high street financial institutions - Lloyds Bank, Nationwide Building Society and TSB - have all issued separate warnings and advice on what they call ‘romance fraud’.

Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director at Lloyds Bank, said: ‘The convincing lies told by fraudsters mean that while romance scam victims think they are falling in love, they’re actually falling for a scam. As well as losing thousands of pounds they also have to deal with this emotional betrayal.

‘The sad truth is there was never any genuine connection, with criminals ruthlessly targeting multiple victims at the same time, and disappearing with the money as soon as they get found out.’