Criminals who are using internet dating sites to cheat young Londoners out of hundreds of thousands of pounds are to be targeted as part of a major new Met crackdown on internet fraud announced today.
Scotland Yard said that it was increasingly concerned about “sophisticated” fraudsters using online dating to befriend potential victims before ripping them off.
It cited two cases within the last fortnight, in which one victim lost £170,000 and another was cheated out of £140,000 and warned the skill of the criminals involved meant that “pretty well anyone” could fall victim.
The crackdown, launched today at City Hall by Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and Deputy Mayor Stephen Greenhalgh, is part of a wider purge on cybercrime and fraud by a new Met team codenamed Falcon.
It will also tackle online shopping fraud, in which criminals take over a person’s internet account to order goods for themselves, fake internet advertising, hacking and “courier fraud”, in which criminals pose as bank or other officials to obtain a person’s account details.
Detective Superintendent Jayne Snelgrove, who heads the new Falcon team, said some dating fraudsters spent months befriending victims before finding a way to cheat money from them, often switching from “secure” dating sites to more vulnerable forms of communication such as email.
She added: “It’s not just the gullible who fall, victim, because these conmen are very, very sophisticated.”
Det Supt Snelgrove said young Londoners were potentially at risk because of their prolific use of internet shopping services and social media.
To coincide with the announcement, detectives yesterday raided the home of a suspected cyber-fraud gangster in Sutton. Officers suspect the man earned thousands of pounds a day buying goods using fake accounts with one of Britain’s biggest online retailers.
They recovered five mobiles and a laptop from the house and arrested a man on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
The full scale of the problem in London was highlighted today by figures showing 17,000 reports of fraud were referred to the Met over the 12 months to August this year. More than half of the crimes were carried out online.
Announcing the new anti-fraud team, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard said he was determined to make London a “hostile place” for cybercriminals and fraudsters.
He said that up to 500 specialist officers would be part of the “joined-up approach by the Met, the business industry and other law enforcement agencies to ensure that we are protecting the public, designing out the crime and arresting the culprits”.
Mr Greenhalgh, Deputy Mayor for policing and crime, said: “These crimes are massively under-reported and can have a devastating impact on individuals and businesses.”
