Woman tricked out of £320k in ‘heartless’ scam
A GROUP of men scammed one woman out of £320,000 then faked their persona’s death in a ‘heartless’ scam on a dating website.
The fraudsters used fake profiles and personas to talk to two elderly women from North Wales and lure them into what they believed to be legitimate, caring relationships.
Uxbridge man Latif Kasule, 32, then helped them launder the money – nearly £350,000 – by transferring it through his own bank account.
Over a period of months the swindlers convinced their victims they were in legitimate relationships before mentioning money. They then concocted a range of different stories about why they needed money.
One woman believed she was speaking to a man named James Fischer, who said he was a telecommunications manager who sourced contracts overseas.
After building a relationship, the fraudsters told her he had broken his laptop while on a business trip and was unable to purchase a new one.
When the victim sent three laptops to the address of his ‘colleague’ in London, it turned out to be Kasule’s address, who then forwarded them on to Ghana. The same victim lost more than £320,000 to the fraudster and the offence only came to light after a family member contacted police to raise concerns about the money that had been sent.
The second woman was tricked into sending around £25,000 to fraudsters who introduced themselves on a dating app as Ethan Bergmann.
A few months later they began speaking via email before moving to a messaging app. Bergmann claimed he worked on oil rigs around the world and spoke to the victim every day via message and video and audio calls.
One woman believed she was speaking to a man named James Fischer, who said he was a telecommunications manager who sourced contracts overseas.
After building a relationship, the fraudsters told her he had broken his laptop while on a business trip and was unable to purchase a new one.
When the victim sent three laptops to the address of his ‘colleague’ in London, it turned out to be Kasule’s address, who then forwarded them on to Ghana.
The same victim lost more than £320,000 to the fraudster and the offence only came to light after a family member contacted police to raise concerns about the money that had been sent.
The second woman was tricked into sending around £25,000 to fraudsters who introduced themselves on a dating app as Ethan Bergmann.
A few months later they began speaking via email before moving to a messaging app. Bergmann claimed he worked on oil rigs around the world and spoke to the victim every day via message and video and audio calls.
During these messages “Bergmann” asked the victim to send money to him via agents, one of whom was Kasule.
The victim sent funds to two separate bank accounts held in different names with different banks. When enquiries were made, it was established these accounts were both under the control of Kasule.
Kasule received £2,680 from the victim and forwarded it on to an associate in Ghana. The relationship continued until the fraudsters decided to fake Bergmann’s death from Covid-19 in March 2020, prompting the victim to contact the police.
Romance fraud is common on dating apps, whereby people pretend to be in a relationship over long periods of time before asking for money.
The issue was highlighted in the 2022 Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, which chronicled one conman’s years of lying to women to scam them out of millions of pounds in a Ponzi scheme on the pretence that he needed the money to escape from his ‘enemies.’
Kasule was jailed for 12 months after being found guilty of seven counts of money laundering at Caernarfon Crown Court.
Detective Constable Paul Ingram, from the City of London Police, said: “To put it simply, romance fraud is a form of online grooming.
“Victims are often left completely devastated at both the financial and emotional impact of this crime, so much so that they are apprehensive about speaking to others about it.
“It is people like Kasule who enable these offences to take place, with a complete disregard for the impact it has on the victims.
“City of London Police has worked closely with colleagues in North Wales Police and other law enforcement agencies throughout the investigation to identify Kasule.
“The sentence handed down proves that romance fraud is a serious crime and those involved in this terrible crime will be found and brought to justice.”