'Romance' fraudsters steal €7m

A €7MILLION has been stolen from people in so-called romance fraud in Ireland over the last five years, gardai have revealed.

- BY JOHN KIERANS

The vast majority of the victims were women who were conned out of their savings.

Last year officers dealt with 70 cases here - almost double the number from 2023 - and €1.5million was callously nicked from them.

They also confirmed the average loss per case since 2020 was €28,500.

The highest reported loss by a female in Ireland was €450,000 in 18 different transactions while one male victim had €380,000 taken from him.

Gardai have expressed alarm at the growing number of romance scams and warned people to be extremely cautious before handing over any cash.

It advised people to be aware of criminals trying to take advantage of people on dating apps.

Gardai warned: "Typically fraudsters use someone else's photos to set up a fake profile on a dating app, social media platform or online dating site to identify potential victims.

"They will then target and groom over a sustained period of time in an effort to extract money from them.