Star comment: Don't give your heart and cash away to romance fraudsters
Scammers will use every technique in the book to get money from people, even if that means creating a fake romance that stretches over several months. Those who are thus abused find themselves with a broken heart, a financial loss and a shattering of their self-esteem.
In such times when duplicity and untrustworthiness is prevalent, it’s a sad fact that everyone entering a new relationship should go into it with their eyes open. That position is particularly true if the relationship is long-distance or online.
Today, to mark Valentine’s Day, a new warning has been issued together with advice on how to avoid so-called ‘romance fraud’. It wouldn’t do any harm to take a note of the advice and keep a record of it, just in case.
There are a great many cases where people have imagined they’ve found ‘the one’ after hooking up online, on a dating site or chat site. They give over their heart, they feel obliged when their new-found love interest tells them a sob story about a health issue, a financial dispute or some other such falsehood.
Dipping into their savings, they try to prove their love by offering a shoulder to cry on and financial resourcefulness. And then, to their great surprise, they find themselves ghosted as the trail runs cold - once the money has gone.
The authorities can provide little recompense and individuals have to take responsiblity themselves for the outcomes. That’s why it’s so important for people who might be vulnerable to engage with the helpful advice provided on romance fraud. Roses are red, violets are blue, fraudsters are out there, don’t let them get you.
***
The work being carried out in Syria and Turkey is heroic. We continue to highlight the bravery of rescuers who pull people from the rubble.
A team from the West Midlands are part of a UK group that has saved several people from the ruins.
Anyone doubting the risks they are taking to help others should take a look at the video on our website of Dr Malcolm Russell, from Midlands Air Ambulance, as he clambers through a tunnel created under a collapsed building in order to get to a trapped man, who is thankfully alive and conscious.
Through the enormous tragedy comes small glimmers of light in which live is preserved through the selflessness of others.
It is impossible to overstate the importance and kindness of those who give of their time and take risks to help those who would otherwise die. We are seeing the best of humanity in the worst circumstances.
