News

Romance fraud: Scammers move beyond dating websites to prey on innocent victims

Published

3 years ago

January 29, 2021

PREYING on players on games websites, using fake photos, and fabricating family emergencies. Police have listed just some of the ways romance fraudsters find their victims and scam them into sending hundreds or thousands of pounds.

Dyfed-Powys Police’s Economic Crime Team is urging people to have their wits about them as it deals with an increasing number of romance fraud cases as people look for friendship or love online.

As part of Dyfed-Powys Police’s INTACT campaign, a communication, education and enforcement campaign led by the force’s Serious Violence and Organised Crime Team, the potentially life-shattering consequences of falling foul of a romance fraud are being highlighted this month.

Fraud safeguarding officer Rebecca Jones said: “We have had victims who have lost their life’s savings, have had to sell their homes, and are completely destroyed after sending huge amounts of money to someone they thought they were in a relationship with.

“Aside from the financial aspect, these victims have lost trust in themselves and others, find it very difficult to open up about what they have been through, and feel totally isolated while trying to recover emotionally.”

Romance fraud is described as when someone creates a fake identity to enter into a relationship with a victim, with the intent to steal either funds or personal information. However, while this kind of crime is also known as a dating scam, relationships are not solely started through dating websites as is frequently believed.

“We do get a number of victims who have gone online to find romance, and have ended up being targeted by criminals,” Rebecca said.

“However, we are now finding that fraudsters are moving into different areas. We have had incidents where two people have met on a games website, where the victim had no intention of finding a partner, and even where a writer had posted work online and was contacted by a scammer who eventually asked for several thousands of pounds.

“As scammers constantly adapt the way they prey on victims, we are urging people to be cautious in all areas of their online lives.”

Despite using various types of websites to seek out unsuspecting victims, the majority of romance fraud incidents follow a similar pattern.

First, trust is gained and a relationship is built up. Then the scammer moves on to asking for money – claiming they have a family or medical emergency, or saying they will use the funds buy a flight ticket to visit their partner. Once this money has been sent, the criminal will keep coming up with new reasons for more money to be sent.

In two recent cases investigated by Dyfed-Powys Police, fraudsters have used photos of international models to set up fake accounts. In one instance, the scammer uploaded a photo of a model with her son, in an attempt to make their victim believe they had a family who needed financial help.

“We do find that victims can be lured in by attractive photos, and very often they do not suspect that these photos have been sourced online,” Rebecca said.

“We know it goes against people’s trusting instincts, but we would highly recommend putting any photos they are sent through a reverse image checker to find the original source. While this is not a fool proof solution, it does offer a layer of protection.”

The Economic Crime Team has also warned that once victims have cut off contact with a scammer, they will still try to find ways of getting in touch with new claims for needing money.

“One of the victims we were supporting continued to receive contact from a person claiming to be a doctor asking for money to cover medical bills, while another posed as a police officer in a series of Skype messages.

“We can’t be sure if the victim told the offender they had reported them, or if they became suspicious after all contact suddenly stopped, but it goes to show the lengths they will take to try and keep the scam going.”

The team also warned that romance fraud can move beyond sending money to the criminal, with victims becoming money mules or being coerced into sextortion.

DC Gareth Jordan said: “Money muling is where the victim is asked to have funds put into their bank account, which is then transferred to someone else. “This is a crime, and we have experienced victims becoming distraught at finding out they have unknowingly broken the law in having their bank account used in this way.

“Sextortion is where the victim is asked to send the criminal sexual videos or photographs of themselves, and then receive threats that these will be shared with family or friends if they do not pay. This can also have a devastating impact on the emotional and mental health of victims, who feel backed into a corner with nowhere to turn.”

While Dyfed-Powys Police has seen a rise in romance fraud reports over the past year, officers fear the impact of lockdowns and isolations through 2020 and the beginning of 2021 is yet to be seen.

“What we know is that people have been increasingly lonely during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said DC Jordan.

“People have been shielding, isolating and living along without their usual level of contact with family and friends. It is natural to crave human contact, and the first place a lot of people will have turned over the past year is to the internet.

“There has been an increase in the number of reports we have received, but we know that some scammers will spend months, or even years, almost grooming their victims, so the true impact is unknown at present.

“We understand how hard it can be to come to terms with learning that the person you’ve built a relationship with – sometimes over a number of years – isn’t the person they said they were. We speak to victims who are dealing with it totally alone for fear of telling friends or family what has happened. We have support mechanisms in place to help you through the investigation stage and beyond.”

Tips to protect yourself:

1. Be cautious when sharing personal details with potential dates: revealing your full name, date of birth and home address could lead to your identity being stolen.
2. Pick a reputable dating website and use the site’s messaging service. Fraudsters will try to convince you to quickly switch to social media or texting so there’s no evidence of them asking you for money.
3. Never send or receive money or give away your bank details to someone you’ve only met online, no matter how much you trust them or believe their story.

Tips to protect a loved one:

1. Ask questions about your loved one’s new relationship: does it sound like both people are sharing the same kind of information at a similar pace?
2. Ask if you can see their profile: does it look genuine? Do they have multiple photographs that are clearly of the same person? Do the photos look too posed, or is the person clearly a model?
3. Don’t be afraid to share your suspicions with police. You are looking out for your friend or family member, and want to keep them safe. We can help.

Spot the signs:

• You’ve struck up a relationship with someone online; they’re asking a lot of personal questions about you, but they’re not interested in telling you much about themselves.
• Fraudsters often claim that they have high ranking roles or busy, important jobs that keep them away from home for long periods of time. This is to avoid suspicion as to why they can’t meet in person.
• They invent a reason to ask for your help, using the emotional attachment you’ve built with them. Your relationship with them may often depend on you sending money.
• Their pictures are too perfect – they may have been stolen from an actor or model. A reverse image search can find photos that have been taken from somewhere else. Ask a tech-savvy friend or relative to help if unsure.

Farming

Animal health and welfare workshops help family farm shape future business

Published

43 mins ago

April 29, 2024

Tom Sinclair

AN eagerness to learn new skills and knowledge is helping mother and son Dianna and Iestyn Spary to continually improve their livestock farming enterprise and build a financially sustainable business fit for the future.

Technical expertise and good business sense are not qualities the Sparys lack since embarking on an impressive number of Farming Connect workshops, covering a range of animal health and welfare topics.

“It’s been an amazing opportunity, we have learned so much that we can apply within the day to day running of our farm and herd, and we can draw on that knowledge as we look at developing new enterprises and diversifications,’’ says Dianna.

She is the fifth generation of her family to farm at Goytre Farm at New Church West, Chepstow, Iestyn the sixth.

Together they farm 110 hectares, running a Hereford-cross beef suckler herd and also rearing beef cattle purchased as baby calves, including more recently British Blues, taking these through to slaughter.

Although they have been immersed in agriculture all their lives, they recognise that it is an industry that is constantly changing as new research and ideas are rolled out and applied.

This is where the Farming Connect workshops have been so incredibly valuable, says Dianna.

“You are never too old to learn, things are changing all the time. If we hadn’t got involved in attending the workshops, we would never have known about some of those new ways of doing things.’’

From learning how to maximise suckler cow productivity and protecting youngstock health to understanding diseases such as Johne’s and bovine TB, the animal health and welfare training workshops have been “enormously valuable’’, she adds.

The pair have tapped into Farming Connect accredited training courses covering areas such as calf management, health and housing, body condition scoring and safe use of veterinary medicines.

“You name it we have done it,’’ says Dianna.

They were announced the winners of the 2023 Farming Connect Animal Health and Welfare Award at the Lantra Cymru Awards in January.

The knowledge gained through Farming Connect workshops and training has helped inform changes in the business.

“We now monitor cattle weights more closely and have introduced different ways of feeding,’’ Dianna explains.

“We have also been revamping all the cattle sheds and have a couple of new ones that will be going up.

“We’ve also invested in calf jackets and if there are any drops in weights, we are more responsive with feed intakes, little things like that.’’

Iestyn has also benefited from a number of sheep-related topics offered through the animal health workshops.

Through the Farming Connect Advisory Service, they have received specialist veterinary advice on their Herd Health Plan with a focus on incoming stock and biosecurity. They have also had guidance on soil health through the soil clinic.

The Sparys largely use traditional farming methods at Goytre Farm where they have several hay meadows.

All feed is produced on-farm. “By doing everything in-house we know exactly what we are feeding and that’s important to us,’’ says Dianna.

That distinctiveness, which sets them apart from some of the more mainstream farming systems, has given them the confidence to consider establishing a diversification into meat box sales, what Dianna describes as a ‘farm to fork’ approach.

Working with a local butcher who has an abattoir licence, they hope to do everything on-site, from slaughter through to hanging the carcass for 28 days, and then selling cuts direct to the consumer.

“We have also spoken to a chef who is going to produce some recipe cards for us to include in the boxes along with a bit of history of where the meat has come from,’’ says Dianna.

Another future project could be converting stone barns in the farmyard to holiday accommodation.

To help focus their minds on their plans, the Sparys will get guidance at a Farming Connect diversification surgery; they have also signed up for a ‘planning a diversification’ training course and will attend a ‘Dos and Don’ts of Diversification’ event in the coming weeks.

For Iestyn, another form of diversification, into agricultural contracting, has provided a secondary income stream.

His customer base is largely farms with smaller acreages with crops that require harvesting or spraying.

Farming Connect has helped with this process too as Iestyn has gained his Level 2 Award in the Safe Use of Pesticides (PA1) and Safe Application of Pesticides Using Vehicle mounted Boom Sprayer Equipment (PA2).

He also offers field maintenance and fencing and works on a neighbouring farm during the lambing season.

This is where Farming Connect has again helped; through the animal health workshops, he has covered modules advising on the prevention of lambing losses and lameness, improving lamb performance post-weaning and parasite controls.

Dianna says the opportunities available through Farming Connect have really helped to drive the family farming business forward.

“We have a good relationship with our local Farming Connect development officer Lisa Powell, she has been brilliant in giving us advice on which courses and workshops are right for us and signing us up for those,’’ she says.

All your achievements, training and knowledge transfer activities are saved within your personal, online Storfa Sgiliau account, the unique, online professional development tool, available for you to view and download at any time from your BOSS (Business Online Support Service) account.

Education

Lib Dem leader meets student union after scrapping of teacher training

Published

4 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Tom Sinclair

Last week, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds visited Aberystwyth University to meet students following the announcement that the University will be scrapping their Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) program.

The announcement comes after the publication of an Estyn inspection report last year, which found that the institution had “been too slow” when it came to prioritising student support.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have now called for the University to produce and implement an action plan that will enable the reintroduction of this course at the earliest opportunity, as well as for the Uni to rectify any similar shortcomings in other training programs.

Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:

“Aberystwyth university has long been seen as a cornerstone of education here in Wales, and its role in shaping the future of Welsh-medium education is pivotal.

However, the decision by the Education Workforce Council to withdraw accreditation for their teacher training program now puts this at risk.

The report published by Estyn rightfully identified several flaws in the Uni’s approach to supporting student teachers, along with requiring the University to make significant improvement.

The decision of the EWC suggest that these improvements have not been made.

We are now calling on the University to get their act together, fix the shortcomings in this program and begin plans to reintroduce the course as soon as possible.

Commenting, a spokesperson for the Welsh Young Liberals said: “There was an overwhelming lack of support, especially for Disabled Students, which has been consistent since 2020.

Previous lecturers were always late, and assignments were marked late and inconsistently.

As a joint honours student my timetable is very erratic, and this has an adverse effect on my wellbeing.

This does not however, mean that the course should be cut, Aberystwyth university should be looking to improve the course and help deliver the next generation of teachers.”

Commenting, the Welsh Liberal Democrat PPC for Ceredigion Mark Williams said: “The reputation of Aberystwyth University as a well-respected centre of education is rightfully a source of pride for many residents here in Ceredigion.

This is why it is so dis-heartening to hear that the Uni have failed to take the recommendations in the 2023 Estyn report seriously, leading them into the embarrassing position of losing their accreditation which risks delivering a severe blow to the future of Welsh-medium education.

The lack of foresight from the Uni in this regard is deeply worrying and I hope that, for the sake of both the students and the wider community, they take all the steps needed to restart the course at the earliest opportunity.”