A widow who handed her life savings to an online romance fraudster said she would struggle to “ever trust anybody again” after the £50,000 scam.
Retired mother-of-two Lyn, 60, from Warrington, Cheshire, was taken in by a man she met on a social media page for widows and widowers in May 2021.
‘Derek’, who claimed he was a Manchester-based businessman, manipulated Lyn before asking for cash.
Lyn said she “felt sick” and “couldn’t believe” what had happened to her.
Across England and Wales last year there were 7,660 cases of romance fraud – up from 4,842 in 2019.
All police force areas have seen an increase in the past five years – in the North West, the number of cases has risen by 70%.
Lyn, who lost her husband of 25 years in 2019, said she never suspected any wrongdoing until it was too late.
“When this guy started chatting, he told me about himself,” she told the BBC North West Investigation Team. “I thought we’ve got a lot in common. He said that he’d lost his wife and I thought we’re both going through the same sort of experience.
“I checked him out, he said he was from Manchester, supported Man City and I was asking him loads of questions, so I felt really comfortable that he was from the area.”
‘Derek’ told Lyn that he owned a mineral company and regularly travelled between Manchester, Miami and Dubai.
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