Horsham police issue new warning over romance fraud

They urge people to be on their guard and not give money to someone they have only met online rather than in person.

A spokesman said: “Fraudsters sound very genuine. take a moment to think before parting with your money.”

Officers are highlighting a campaign by Action Fraud to warn people what to look out for.

A spokesman said: “Romance scams involve people being duped into sending money to criminals who go to great lengths to gain their trust and convince them that they are in a genuine relationship.

“They use language to manipulate, persuade and exploit so that requests for money do not raise alarm bells.

“These requests might be highly emotive, such as criminals claiming they need money for emergency medical care, or to pay for transport costs to visit the victim if they are overseas.

“Scammers will often build a relationship with their victims over time.”

Police urge people to be suspicious of any requests for money from someone they have never met in person, particularly if they have only recently met online.

They say that profile photos may not be genuine and that people should do a ‘reverse image search’ on a search engine that can find photos that have been taken from somewhere, or someone else.