A Derbyshire man lost £42,000 after trusting an attractive woman who conned him into thinking he was in a relationship with her. Alexandr Gutu lives in Matlock and works as a chef at a local restaurant and a kitchen assistant at a hotel.
The 33-year-old, originally from Moldova, had dreamed of starting a family and buying his own house in Derbyshire. Alexandr had been working up to 320 hours a month at his two jobs to save enough money for a home, only to be scammed out of all his savings.
In January, Alexandr’s working hours were reduced at the hotel and he found it difficult to find another job to work in the daytime before his chef shifts started. During this period, he also began looking for a girlfriend on dating websites in a bid to find the “one” and start a family with her.
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Within days a beautiful woman, who was likely using a fake picture, began chatting to Alexandr on WhatsApp. He said: “We had conversations about life, family, and the future. One day she asked me about my plans for the future and I answered that I want to buy a house in England.
“She said that she had an uncle who worked at a big European company and does some trading and could help provide me with some help with extra income because I lost my hours [at my job].”
Trusting the woman, who Alexandr felt he had developed a relationship with, he had conversations with the woman’s “uncle”, who explained that because Alexandr had started a relationship with his niece he would help him out in the cryptocurrency world.
An account was set up in Alexandr’s name and he transferred a small amount of money into the account through cryptocurrency. He added: “Everything was alright, I transferred some more money because it was looking good until I transferred a big amount of money and then requested some back. The scammers deleted the WhatsApp account and disappeared with my money.”
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank.
The incident has been reported to Action Fraud and Derbyshire police’s fraud department who have referred Alexandr to the financial ombudsman service. He has said the police force has been “very helpful” during the entire process.
Alexandr’s bank has said it cannot refund him as the money was sent by a “faster payment”. When you send money by “faster payment” it is like sending cash, once it is sent it can’t be cancelled or reversed. There is no protection should anything go wrong as there would be for payments made on a debit/credit card.
The payments Alexandr sent to his crypto account aren’t covered by the bank as the payments were sent to his own crypto account and not to a fraudster. His bank has recommended Alexandr try and contact the cryptocurrency exchange that he was using when scammed.
Romance frauds are often referred to as authorised push payment (APP) or bank transfer scams. The Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code, in place since May 2019, aims to reimburse victims of this type of fraud. The principles of the code were used in Alexandr’s case and it was found that the payments he sent weren’t covered by the code.
“Now without my savings, I can’t buy a house, I can’t create a family, I’m always working. I wanted to find a girlfriend instead found a scam. I worked out that it will take me two years of working every day to earn the money back,” said Alexandr.
As well as buying a new house, he had also hoped to be able to relocate his parents from Moldova, near the Ukrainian border, to the UK. His father has recently suffered a stroke and is disabled and Alexandr was planning on helping cover the costs of a new chair for him.
Alexandr has discussed the shame he feels for falling for the scam, adding: “I, myself, feel guilty, I was trying to find a girlfriend and was trusting. I did these payments.”
A crowdfunder has been launched by Alexandr to hopefully recuperate some of his savings, but he is more bothered about raising awareness of similar romance scams. He said: “I’m not expecting that somebody will help me [on the crowdfunder] because people have different problems at the moment. Like bills, kids, some people have issues with their health, but I thought it was better to ask for help than not.”
Dating and romance scams
Most UK dating websites and chatrooms are legitimate, but fraudsters have been known to use them to steal people’s money. Dating and romance scammers lower their target’s defences by building an online relationship, then asking for larger and larger sums of money.
Well-meaning men and women have both fallen victim to this. Find out more about dating and romance scams on the Derbyshire police website.
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