Guernsey Press

Online Romeos targeting lonely women

FOREIGN fraudsters posing as desirable men on dating websites have been targeting lonely middle-aged women to dupe them into handing over money, police have warned.

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Local woman Caroline Stockley, pictured, 48, has spoken publicly of her devastation after falling victim to the scam and losing £628.

And police confirmed one local a month was falling victim to such fraudsters, with the largest loss to date being £2,000.

'It is typically people who have been single for a long time,' said Detective Sergeant Sarah-Jane Snowdon of the joint Guernsey Police/Guernsey Border Agency Financial Intelligence Service.

Miss Stockley began using a dating website late last year and was soon building up a relationship with a man calling himself Jack.

He claimed to live in the island with his six-year-old daughter, Rosemary, and was soon showering Miss Stockley with compliments.

But the liaison soon took a sinister and financially draining twist.

'Jack' said he had taken his daughter to South Africa and after no contact for a day, when it had regularly been two or three times every day, 'Jack' got in contact with some devastating news.

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