31 cases of ‘romance fraud’ reported to Gardaí this year

An Garda Síochana are warning members of the public to be aware of romance fraud as they continue to investigate a large number of money laundering offences.

In September, Gardaí received a request for assistance from Hungarian Police through Interpol.

“They were investigating a case of romance fraud where a female was deceived into sending $4,000 to a fraudulent account. Investigations by the Hungarian Police identified that the money was credited to an Irish bank account,” Gardaí said.

Garda National Economic Crime Bureau identified who the holder of the account was and an analysis of the account showed that between September 2020 and October 2021, there were 46 suspicious credits into this bank account from 12 different people in 8 different EU countries, namely Germany, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Poland and the UK.

The total amount credited in this 12-month period was €109,880.28. All of the people who credited the money consisted of 11 females and one male.

“Once the credit is made to the account, the funds are immediately withdrawn in cash, transferred electronically and used in point of sale transactions in successive days leaving very little in the account until the next credit is made.

“It is suspected that each of the 12 people who credited money to his account are the victims of romance fraud,” Gardaí added.

The holder of this account was arrested earlier this month and the investigation continues.

TRANSFERRING MONEY ABROAD

From January to the end of May this year, there have been 31 cases reported to An Garda Síochána – 23 female and 8 men.

The average age of injured parties who are female is 44 years and the average age for men is 47 years, with the youngest victim being 27 years of age and the oldest being 69 years of age.

With just one exception, the victims encountered the suspect over a dating app or through social media. €812,715 was the total reported loss in these 31 cases.

“In almost every case, the money was transferred to accounts outside Ireland or to bitcoin wallets. This is an International crime type and victims are encountered and exploited online and deceived into transferring money abroad.

“This is done to ensure the suspects can cash out and to frustrate investigations. An Garda Síochána believe that these crimes are under reported,” Gardaí said.

Individuals who believe they have fallen victim to romance fraud are encouraged to report the matter to Gardaí and to contact their bank immediately.