A British woman claimed a Nigerian gang posing as an online love interest conned her out of £20k.
56-year-old
'Elizabeth' (not her real name) - appeared on Good Morning Britain
yesterday, April 19 to warn people of the dangers of online dating.
After thinking she was was dating an engineer from Southampton who had a
contract out in Dubai, it turned out to be a scam.
"I was very vulnerable, I had been on my own for a long time and I just wanted to meet someone
'Elizabeth' met 'Harold' a Norwegian man who had a contract in
Dubai, which meant it was difficult to meet up - this turned out to be a
lie. After being asked about how he won over her trust, she
explained:
"He used to email me and tell me how lovely I was, he would
make me feel like any woman would want to."
According to her, love wasn't the only thing on the table.
"He said that I could have a job
with him as well, to be quite honest with you".
After
initially handing over £3,000, in total she gave the scammers more than
£20,000. 'Elizabeth' claims they sent up to 20-30 messages and emails a
day and said "they were basically brainwashing me.
Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan pressed the victim more, as it was
revealed that 'Elizabeth' was targeted by more than one person in the
elaborate hoax.
"I believe they were a gang of Nigerian scammers," said Elizabeth.
When Susanna quizzed her on what the police said, Elizabeth said:
"I
didn't really get much from the police, they didn't give me a lot of
information. They said there was nothing they could do
for me."
Good Morning Britain also revealed the latest figures of 'romance fraud' with victims losing £23.3million in 2015.
