Romance fraud increased by 86% in 2021.
Gardai have issued a warning about romance scams, as Valentine's Day approaches, and warn that 70% of romance fraud victims are women.
Gardai say they're working closely with Europol to disrupt the activities of romance scammers.
Particularly organised crime gangs who engage in this type of criminality, as well as monitoring dating sites for scams.
It comes as the Tinder Swindler documentary on Netflix has revealed how one man scammed multiple women out of hundreds of thousands of euro.
Pretend Musician
Detective Sergeant Michael Cryan outlines one such case Gardaí have been working on:
"A 41-year-old female believed she was in contact with a well-known musician."
"They became romantically involved online."
"She was defrauded of over €26,000."
"Obviously it was a total fraud scam from the start."
"The average age of the victims is 47 to 50 years of age."
"Also, 70% of them are female."
Malaysia Codes
In another case, a 65-year-old women contacted Gardaí to report that she had lost €35,000.
That was as a result of meeting a man through social media.
Throughout their online relationship she was convinced to purchase Steam cards and send the codes directly to her male friend.
Subsequently, the money was then transferred to various accounts in Malaysia.
Mexico And Bitcoin
Elsewhere, a 38-year-old man reported that he began engaging online with a woman.
The woman said she needed money to return home from Mexico.
He sent €3,800 to her via Bitcoin in one transaction.
€90,000 Scam
Finally, a 51-year-old woman believed she was in an online relationship with a man.
She agreed to transfer €90,000 to him in the belief that it was a loan for his business.
She now believes this to be a case of fraud.
