Warning after woman conned out of thousands by online scammer posing as American soldier

A woman from Anglesey who says she was targeted online has said she would go “without any money” in order to meet her lover’s demands.

Sandra, who didn't want to reveal her full name or identity, said she sent £4000 to a romance scammer named ‘Nic’ last year.

He first approached her on Instagram in June and quickly formed a relationship with Sandra online.

“Every day, he would message me. It would be continuous", Sandra said.

“I think it was only a couple of days and he was like ‘I love you my wife’.”

The pair exchanged hundreds of messages over several months. 

Nic claimed he was a soldier from America, but was adamant he was going to move to Wales to live with Sandra and spend the rest of their lives together. He started asking for money to make the trip.

“To start, it was like $20 here and $50 there. I thought if I could help somebody I would, but when it got to the thousands, I found it a real struggle.

“From June up until September I was going without money at all.”

“It just got to a point where I didn’t sleep as I was trying to figure out a way I could get money to them, because they were just pressuring.”

Sandra said she had to seek help from family members to pay her bills. It took her months before she realised ‘Nic’ wasn’t who he said he was. 

'I feel like I’m lost'

Coming to terms with the fact that she was in love with a scammer is still hard for Sandra to accept.

“I feel like I’m lost. It feels like it’s the end of a relationship, even though it wasn’t a proper relationship.”

After reporting her ordeal to Action Fraud and North Wales police, Sandra is yet to receive any money back.

“It’s been a real struggle. I’ve fallen behind so much and I’m still getting letters that follow with missed payments.”

Since February last year, there have been 477 reports of romance scams in Wales, with victims losing over £3 million pounds.

According to website Which?, this number has increased 40% since the pandemic.

Rachel Roberts, a Financial Abuse Safeguarding Officer for North Wales Police, says the force deals with multiple cases of romance fraud every week.

“Romance scams are very common. We see all age ranges, male and female. It can be anybody who is actually targeted by romance scammers.”

Latest figures from the Which? website also show 96% of cases reported to Action Fraud go unresolved.

Often, this is because the offenders are abroad and are beyond the authority of the police. Scammers also are also very likely to use fake identities and photos.

“The inquiries we make often lead us abroad. This makes it incredibly difficult to follow any type of investigation as we are dealing with different laws, different police forces with different legislation in place", said Rachel Roberts.

“It does become really, really frustrating for us as investigators.

“Victims rarely ever get their money back from these offenders. If they do get refunds it's because of the good will of the banks but that’s all that we can do unfortunately and support them as best as we can.”

According to Action Fraud, they “work closely with our partners to prevent people from falling victim to fraud and are committed to providing those who do become victims with the best possible support and service.”

“Last year, our specialist victim support advocates helped over 60,000 victims of fraud and cyber crime with bespoke and specialist advice to better protect themselves from falling victim to fraud again in the future.”

You can see more on this story on Y Byd ar Bedwar, which will air on Wednesday April 6 at 20:25 on S4C. English subtitles are available.