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Detectives have discovered a “control center” for a large-scale romance fraud operation in Ireland.
It is the first time that a romance fraud operation has been discovered in Ireland. While many Irish people have fallen victim to such scams in recent years, Garda investigations have consistently shown that the suspects were operating from another country, making arrests and asset recovery extremely difficult.
Examination of the evidence seized in Dublin and Meath is ongoing. So far four victims have been identified in computer records, but sources say they hope to discover many more.
Romance fraud involves victims being lured into fake romantic relationships online before being financially exploited. Scammers use fake identities to lure victims and build trust.
Once trust has been established, the fraudster will start asking for larger sums of money. They often claim that they need money to pay for travel expenses in order to visit the victim or help a sick family member.
The scammers arrested in Monday’s operation tracked down the victims on a popular dating site before moving the relationship to another forum and asking for money so they could meet.
One of the victims of last week’s Garda operation was convinced to send large sums of money to tracked accounts in Ireland, Turkey, Dubai and Vietnam over a period of nine months.
Agents from the Garda National Office for Economic Crimes arrested three men during search operations in Dublin and Navan on Monday and seized a large amount of computer evidence.
Arrested in Dublin
The men are detained under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 at Garda stations in West Dublin and can be held for up to seven days.
“These arrests are the culmination of investigations into the complaints of suspected romance and investment fraud,” the Garda said in a statement.
“This is a novel investigation, as the senders of such emails have never before been arrested in Ireland,” said Det Supt Michael Cryan.
“To date, the belief would have always been that the criminal groups involved in this activity operate from outside this jurisdiction. This research shows that this is not always the case.
“It is anticipated that numerous injured parties from around the world will now be identified. We would encourage other victims of this type of fraud to report the incidents to the local gardaí ”.
Last year, the Garda received more than 75 reports of romantic fraud from Irish victims who had been scammed out of more than 1 million euros.
While traditionally older women were the victims of the scam, Gardaí said that the age profile had changed significantly in recent years and that they were victims of all ages.
He said he suspected there were many more victims, as people, particularly young men, were often too embarrassed to come forward.
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