A woman who gave £300,000 to a man she met on a dating site has spoken of her ordeal, revealing she was the victim of a sophisticated romance fraud. Sophia, not her real name, began speaking to Aaron on a dating site in May 2019, believing they were planning a future together, including buying a house.
Despite never meeting in person, Sophia transferred large sums of money, including loans and savings totalling £50,000-60,000, based on false mortgage documents and emails created by Aaron. When he asked for a further £50,000, she became suspicious and contacted her bank, only to discover the account she thought was joint was not in her name.
Sophia reported the fraud to Thames Valley Police, which confirmed an ongoing investigation. She was eventually reimbursed by most banks after a financial ombudsman ruling, but Nationwide Building Society initially refused, calling it a civil matter. Nationwide later apologised and refunded the money following the ombudsman's recommendation.
Sophia now warns others about the emotional abuse involved in such scams and urges dating apps to do more to prevent fraud. UK Finance reported a 20% increase in bank transfer fraud linked to romance scams between 2019 and 2020.
