Fraudsters are posing as nurses for sympathy cash, warns agency

FRAUDSTERS are posing as nurses on dating sites to elicit sympathy money as they exploit the pandemic, the National Crime Agency has said.

Lynn Owens, the agency’s director general, said online shopping fraud was up 46 per cent since lockdown, and that Covid-19 was now linked to a growing number of reported scams.

Criminals are offering fake or nonexistent items for sale, including PPE, medicines, hand sanitiser, games consoles and even puppies, she said.

“We’ve even seen reports of a dating fraud where people are pretending to be a nurse in a hospital and saying, ‘I need money to help me to get to work’.”

Investigators also believe criminal gangs are trying to exploit the Government’s financial stimulus packages.

Ms Owens said the agency also played a part in the seizures of 25 tons of class A drugs around the world last month, including 2 tons of cocaine off Panama, 4 tons off the Spanish coast, and hundreds of kilos of heroin from Afghanistan and Pakistan. She said: “Criminals may believe that authorities are distracted and think there is an opportunity to import larger quantities. We have shown this is far from the truth.”

Seizures at the border included 250 kilos of cocaine at Dover on May 5, hidden under medical dry ice, which was falsely addressed to a London hospital. And 39 assorted semi-automatic weapons, machine guns and assault rifles were seized over the last eight weeks.