Pensioner sends £200,000 to online romance scammers
Jean, a 70-year-old housebound resident from Weston-super-Mare, has sent more than £200,000 to online con artists over a seven-year period. Her daughter Chantelle Smith initially discovered her mother was sending money to a lover named Maxwell who claimed to be serving in the US Army, and who deceived her out of more than £169,000.
While Chantelle convinced her mum to stop those payments, other fraudsters emerged to target her dying mother. Jean secretly purchased multiple phones to maintain contact with five different boyfriends, which included a man pretending to be actor Johnny Depp and another acting as fashion designer Ranniere Almeida.
The growing scale of fraud across the UK
Data from the Office of National Statistics reveals there were 4,534,000 reported incidents of fraud in the year to April, representing an 11 per cent rise on the previous period. A report by Report Fraud revealed scammers have conned people in the UK out of a staggering £3.2 billion in just one year alone. Experts believe many of these criminals belong to collective groups of Nigerian men operating overseas.
Professor Mark Button, co-director of the Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime, stated that scam compounds in Southeast Asia have industrialised scamming. He noted that the government estimates 70 per cent of fraud comes from overseas or has an overseas element. Cyber Protect and Prevent Officer Alan Mordey from Hertfordshire Police explained that most offenders live outside the UK, meaning law enforcement cannot simply police their way out of the issue.
Threats and continued deception
Chantelle explains that her mother is lonely, end of life, and mentally incapable, making her vulnerable to manipulation. When Jean stopped funds in September 2024, the scammer threatened to send intimate images to her daughter. The scammer followed through with the threat while Jean was lying in a hospital coma after crashing her car on the way to buy a £500 voucher.
The relentless messaging has left Jean in serious debt, and her family struggles to protect her. Chantelle stated, I do not think it will ever stop until mum dies.
