Relationship scammers con Sussex victims out of £4 million in past year
Criminals pried over £14,000 from each victim on average by pretending to be in a relationship with them
Victims of romance fraud in Sussex have been scammed out of £4 million in the past year, local police say.
In a total of 400 reported cases, it works out as an average of £14,000 stolen from each victim.
It comes following an 8% year-on-year increase in this type of scam, which Sussex Police say is county-wide and mostly targets vulnerable over 50s.
The force are now raising awareness about romance fraud in hopes to reduce the number of future victims.
Bernadette Lawrie, their Financial Abuse Safeguarding Officer, said "loneliness can be a real contributing factor to this crime type": "Sixty four percent of our victims do live on their own.
"When it comes to online romance fraud particularly, people are generally looking for something in the first place, which might mean they're in a vulnerable state already.
"Then they get an approach, a request, and then that relationship can really start to move quite quickly."
She continued that the speed in which a relationship progresses can be a clear warning sign someone isn't who they seem - for example, if they quickly begin "usings words like love and talking about the future":
"They also might encourage people to be quite secretive about that relationship.
"Fraudsters will try and isolate their victims from their support network so that they can exploit them and groom them.
"What we don't tend to see are those immediate requests for money.
"There can be quite a lengthy grooming period before they're sowing the seeds, by telling people stories that add legitimacy to the request for money a bit further down the line."
Sussex Police say they've seen victims taking out loans and even drawing equity out of their properties to pay the "networks of criminals" posing as a partner.
Bernadette's encouraging anyone concerned about a loved one to talk to them - even if it's a difficult conversation.
"They might be resistant, they might be feeling in denial, and they might not want to hear it.
"But really, that's when we can start breaking down some of those barriers."
She added performing a reverse image search is also useful to find out if a profile is using photos from elsewhere on the internet, as well as reassuring the victim that they aren't alone.
"I would say it does need reporting as well.
"We need to be able to support victims individually."
If you're concerned about yourself or a loved one, you can report it to Sussex Police here.