Hunt for conwoman who duped victim out of £200,000 after meeting on Match.com
A gLAMorouS conwoman is being hunted after she tricked a man she met through an online dating site into handing over £200,000.
The fraudster contacted her victim, aged 43, via Match. com and spent almost a year talking to him over the internet. She beguiled him into handing over the money by promising to start a relationship. She then resorted to emotional blackmail and threats when he asked for the money back.
Detectives believe the darkhaired woman, whose advertises herself as 35-year- old Mira from Teddington, West London, is a key player in an organised crime gang targeting vulnerable and lonely people online.
She communicates with her victims via Skype and internet messaging apps using three different aliases – Christy Dunn, Martha Cameron and Miranda Stinson – although her true identity and age are not known.
In the case of the £200,000 victim, who is from Manchester, she claimed she lived in the Bahamas and worked in South Africa. officers believe she is actually connected to Botswana and London.
Avon and Somerset Police have issued a photograph of the woman they are seeking.
Detective Constable Simon Da Costa said: ‘The victim was manipulated into giving money firstly by the promise of a relationship, then emotional blackmail and the promise of the return of his money, and finally by threats.
‘Some of this money was paid into accounts with links to Bristol.
‘We believe this scam is likely to be part of a wider criminal operation targeting lonely and vulnerable people online. We really need to find this woman, so if you have information about where she may be, or if you have also been a victim, please call us.’
Match.com is one of Britain’s biggest dating services, with three million members.
The woman is understood also to have set up a profile on another popular dating website, eHarmony.
A second man has written in a blog that the same woman convinced him into sending her money to get her oil paintings framed for an art exhibition and to pay for a hospital stay in Nassau, Bahamas.
When he realised he was being conned he found she had a series of profiles claiming that she lived in places including Teddington, Milton Keynes, Kingswinford in the West Midlands and Loughton, Essex.
He believes she is actually based in Pretoria, South Africa, and may have successfully conned three other British men.
In a warning to other victims, he shared a copy of his Skype conversation with the woman, who this time used the name Martha Cameron.
Internet dating fraud is on the rise. In 2015 scammers conned their internet lovers out of £33million and one study has suggested as many as 90 per cent of members of some sites are fraudsters.
Do you know the woman in the photograph? Email us at datingcon@dailymail.co.uk
‘Target lonely, vulnerable men’