Middle-老年の 犠牲者s of the Tinder 罠（にかける）: A doctor, lawyer and teaching assistant 株 the astounding ways they fell for predatory 詐欺s online?

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Teaching assistant Anna 列／漕ぐ／騒動 (pictured) who was duped on Tinder, called on the 政府 to pass 法律s against ‘catfishing’

It was an error of judgment that cost Suzanne Hardman dearly. Not only did the 豊富な 離婚 lose a 抱擁する 量 of money but, by the time the fraudsters who scammed her were finally caught, it had stripped her of her 信用／信任 and self-尊敬（する）・点.

For Suzanne, 58, a mother of grown-up daughters, had turned to online dating for a last chance at romance, ending up as the unsuspecting 犠牲者 of professional conmen hiding behind 偽の but convincingly (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する internet profiles.

An office 経営者／支配人 who had recently lost her mother, Suzanne was 誘惑するd by the attentions of an attractive, middle-老年の widower. Or so she thought.

Lonely and 攻撃を受けやすい, she believed his hard luck stories and within weeks she had ? foolishly, she now 認めるs ? 手渡すd over £174,000 of her hard-earned 貯金.

Sadly, Suzanne is far from 存在 alone. Last week, the fiance of children’s author Helen Bailey, whose 団体／死体 was 設立する 捨てるd in a cesspit, was 刑務所，拘置所d for more than 30 years after 殺人，大当り the 51-year-old for her multi-million 続けざまに猛撃する 相続物件. The two had met on a Facebook dating group.

Then another 犠牲者, teaching assistant Anna 列／漕ぐ／騒動, 44, who was duped on Tinder, called on the 政府 to pass 法律s against ‘catfishing’ as it is known ? the practice of using a 偽の profile to start an online romance.

Yet only now is the true 規模 of this new and bewildering 詐欺 現れるing.

Staggering new 人物／姿／数字s show that 報告（する）／憶測s of online dating 詐欺 増加するd by 32 per cent in just three years between January 2013 and December 2015, with an 付加 3,889 online dating 罪，犯罪s 報告（する）／憶測d in the last year alone.?

The 最新の 統計（学）, from 活動／戦闘 詐欺, the UK’s 国家の 詐欺 and cyber-罪，犯罪 報告（する）／憶測ing centre within the City of London Police, show seven 事例／患者s are 報告（する）／憶測d every day.

Last year, the cost was 一致するd at £40 million, with each 犠牲者 losing, on 普通の／平均（する）, £10,000 to scammers.

Indeed, 活動／戦闘 詐欺 believes the true number of 事例／患者s is much higher as many 犠牲者s are 簡単に too embarrassed to 報告（する）／憶測 the 罪，犯罪s.

It is not just a 財政上の cost which 荒廃させるd 犠牲者s must 支払う／賃金; the 大多数 are women, who 直面する the agony of 再構築するing their 信用／信任 に引き続いて the often humiliating 発覚 they had become emotionally 伴う／関わるd in a romance which did not 存在する. Most of those 落ちるing prey are in their middle years ? the 普通の／平均（する） age is 49.

Certainly, that feeling of humiliation is something Suzanne Hardman understands only too 井戸／弁護士席. ‘I know now I was an 絶対の fool,’ she says. ‘I feel so ashamed and embarrassed. I look at the internet messages an d I can’t believe how I was taken in. Thanks to my stupidity I’ve thrown away my 未来.’

Suzanne Hardman (left)?lost a 抱擁する 量 of money to an internet dating conman.?Anna 列／漕ぐ／騒動 (権利) ?only discovered her long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 boyfriend was 現実に a married father when she 雇うd a 私立探偵

Suzanne, from Hampshire, was reeled in by the profile on Match.com of university educated ‘James Richards’, someone she believed was a 繁栄する 49-year-old American living in Portsmouth and working in construction. They began 交流ing ますます 熱烈な messages as it became （疑いを）晴らす how much they had in ありふれた. They were both only children and, coincidentally, both had just lost their parents.

In one message, he wrote: ‘You make me feel loved. You make me feel 安全な. But most important of all, you make me feel 手配中の，お尋ね者.

‘Neither of us could begin to imagine the love we both feel, nei ther 爆発するing nor 雷鳴ing into our hearts but just slowly growing into a beautiful 関係.’ Suzanne now 収容する／認めるs they were ‘a bit gushy’ but 追加するs: ‘Which woman doesn’t like that いつかs?’

He told Suzanne that his late father had £895,567.32 in a frozen account that he couldn’t 接近. Once that was sorted, they could 会合，会う ? if Suzanne could 移転 the £700 he needed to 伸び（る） 接近 to the account.

Thinking it was a one off, Suzanne sent the money but, won over by his affection, she soon sent 付加 sums totalling £174,000. The men behind this particular scam were 結局 caught and in late 2014 were 罪人／有罪を宣告するd of 詐欺 ? having conned not just Suzanne, but eight other women, too.

But most get away with it, によれば Neil Masters of the charity 犠牲者 Support. Many appear to be part of organised ギャング（団）s in West Africa or Eastern Europe. They are so successful that even 高度に intelligent professionals have fallen 犠牲者.

Lawyer Annemarie Fletcher, 44, 設立する herself duped by a 犯罪の only recently 解放（する）d from 刑務所，拘置所 for defrauding his 雇用者 of £50,000. The 選び出す／独身 mother of two met Kris Lyndsay, who （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to be a successful 実業家, on Tinder, but says that she let her hope of a loving 関係 cloud her 普通は （疑いを）晴らす judgment.

Lyndsay had changed his 指名する to 隠す his past, 誇るd of buying a 高級な home and drove a Land Rover which later turned out to be 雇うd. He also （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to own a water 瓶／封じ込めるing 工場／植物, several car parks and a phone app, and so Annemarie was 説得するd to 会合，会う him within a month in nearby Portishead.

A carefully 建設するd 悲劇 at the centre of his life only reeled Annemarie in その上の: he （人命などを）奪う，主張するd his wife and daughter had been killed by a drunk driver.

Within weeks, however, he had asked her for a short 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 貸付金 , 約束ing in return to 支払う／賃金 her daughter’s £15,000 school 料金s.

She 手渡すd over £7,000 in borrowed cash and £40,000 of jewellery before the terrible truth 現れるd. ‘I 見解（をとる）d Kris as an alpha male,’ she says. ‘I ask myself how I was taken in, but I’d never 遭遇（する）d a 犯罪の before and he seemed so plausible. He took me to see a £950,000 house in Somerset that he said he was buying. I even imagined a 未来 living there with him.’

Hospital doctor Liz Todd (left) ?was manipulated by a serial conman she met on the Plenty Of Fish website.?Publicist Amanda 在庫／株s (権利) only discovered her ‘perfect’ new partner Matthew was a 詐欺 when her 怪しげな mother 雇うd a 私立探偵

Hospital doctor Liz Todd, 31, 設立する herself manipulated by a serial conman she met on the Plenty Of Fish website ? a 犯罪の who spent her cash on strippers and 売春婦s. ‘Christopher Smith’ （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to be a barrister and appeared so charming that Liz fell ‘長，率いる over heels’ after just one coffee date.

She helped him 安全な・保証する the 賃貸し（する） on a manor house apartment after he （人命などを）奪う，主張するd 存在 self-雇うd could make things ‘複雑にするd’. But he had reams of paperwork to 支援する up his （人命などを）奪う，主張するs that he enjoyed a six-人物／姿／数字 salary, a multi-million-続けざまに猛撃する 賃貸しの 大臣の地位 and an 投資 of £300,000 which was 始める，決める to 円熟した. ‘Smith’ also carried とじ込み／提出するs which 示唆するd he was a barrister, made calls to （弁護士の）依頼人s when Liz was there, and had Liz フェリー（で運ぶ） him around to 法廷，裁判所 dates across the North East.

But it was when Liz 設立する a newspaper article about him from 2008 that she realised he was a 詐欺, with 17 different 偽名，通称s, 133 前科s for 詐欺 and a string of 刑務所，拘置所 宣告，判決s. He had even been hosting stripper parties at her flat while she worked night 転換s. By then, he had 静かに fleeced her out of £168,000.

His cruel 活動／戦闘s left Liz penniless and 軍隊d her to sell her home. ‘The thought that I was once in love with him ? or the person I thought he was ? makes me 肉体的に sick,’ she later said. He was later 刑務所，拘置所d for nine and a half years.

Professor Monica Whitty, a cyber-psychologist from Warwick University, points out that 知能 is no 保護. ‘The 戦略s these fraudsters use are 高度に sophisticated. From the outside, it’s difficult to see how anyone can be taken in, but from the inside, the techniques are incredibly hard to resist.’

In her 2008 調書をとる／予約する Truth, Lies And 信用 On The Internet, Prof Whitty explains that online romances can be ‘hyper-personal ? more strong and intimate than physical 関係s’. Older people are hardest 攻撃する，衝突する because, she says, there’s 証拠 that the ability to （悪事，秘密などを）発見する deception 拒絶する／低下するs with age. 確かな personality types, more ありふれた の中で wo men, are 特に 攻撃を受けやすい ? those who are romantics and 危険-takers, 信奉者s in 運命／宿命 and 運命.

Lawyer Annemarie Fletcher (pictured) was duped by a 犯罪の only recently 解放（する）d from 刑務所，拘置所 for defrauding his 雇用者 of £50,000

Susan Tollefsen would certainly 述べる herself as the latter. She lost nearly £160,000 after African fraudsters 提起する／ポーズをとるd as ‘Glenn Vanslyke’, an Italian diamond 売買業者 whose wife had died of 癌.

The retired teacher, 66, who became Britain’s oldest first-time mum after having daughter Freya in 2008 に引き続いて IVF, was lonely and flattered by Glenn’s attention after they met on Plenty of Fish. He にわか雨d her with gifts and flowers, and called her daughter ‘my angel’ during 非常に長い phone calls.

‘He said he had friends in ありふれた with my ex-husband, who was also Italian. We seemed so alike ? he was very 充てるd to his family and sent me pictures of his mother.’

They spoke for hours most days so when, within six months, Glenn 自白するd he was in 財政上の difficulties Susan did not hesitate to send money.

She even borrowed £32,000 from friends, 納得させるd the 投資 would 安全な・保証する Freya’s 未来. Glenn had not only 約束d to buy a 隣人’s 所有物／資産／財産 and put it in Freya’s 指名する, but also 主張するd she would see a healthy return on her money. But her 疑惑s grew after he failed to turn up to 会合s in Brussels, and did not board flights to London which she paid for. ‘I had to sell my house and I’m now renting it 支援する. I’d never go 支援する on these websites now.’

Publicist Amanda 在庫／株s, 47, only discovered her ‘perfect’ new partner Matthew was a 詐欺 when her 怪しげな mother 雇うd a 私立探偵. The couple met in a Croydon caf? just a week after first chatting on Match.com. Matthew, 36, who was pleasingly tall and good-looking in person, （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to be a 財政／金融 経営者／支配人 for the Princess 王室の University Hospital in Farnborough, Kent, who was looking for a serious 関係.

‘He told me he was financially 安全な・保証する and owned a house 同様に as a flat he once 株d with a girlfriend,’ Amanda 解任するd. ‘He painted the picture of an honest man who was 申し込む／申し出ing 安全 and a 未来. 基本的に, he told me everything that I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to hear.

‘After the first date he started to 支持を得ようと努める me in earnest through messages on my Blackberry. He told me how lovely I was, how much he liked me. He was so persuasive that I was reeled in very quickly.’

But without realising it, Amanda was almost 完全に 地盤 the 法案 for the couple’s lifestyle, 含むing meals at Claridge’s and a £10,000 holiday to the Maldives.

‘I didn’t even realise that in the nearly four months we were together I was 支払う／賃金ing every time we went out. He would either have forgotten his wallet or his cards.

‘I was never introduced to his family or friends. He 約束d he would but always 設立する an excuse to 取り消す. That should have been a red 旗, but I was so “in love” with the idea of having 設立する the perfect man, that I had left my brains in a box somewhere.

Last week, the fiance of children’s author Helen Bailey (pictured together), whose 団体／死体 was 設立する 捨てるd in a cesspit, was 刑務所，拘置所d for more than 30 years after 殺人，大当り the 51-year-old for her multi-million 続けざまに猛撃する 相続物件. The two had met on a Facebook dating group

‘There were 手がかり（を与える）s ? he was a 経営者／支配人 on a big salary but didn’t have a car. When I asked why he said it was because of a drink 運動ing 禁止（する）. I suppose I just 手配中の，お尋ね者 it all to be real.’ A 探偵，刑事 雇うd by her mother discovered he changed out of his 控訴 after leaving their home every day, and into a care 労働者’s uniform. The 所有物／資産／財産 大臣の地位 簡単に did not 存在する.

‘There was grief and 怒り／怒る and bewilderment that I had been so gullible. I was heartbroken. The emotional scars meant that it took four years before I would even think of 信用ing another man.’

Just last week, teaching assistant Anna 列／漕ぐ／騒動, 44, also 明らかにする／漏らすd how she only discovered her long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 boyfriend was 現実に a married father when she 雇うd a 私立探偵. Anna, 44, met ‘Anthony Ray’ on Tinder and the pair had enjoyed a 14-month 関係 and talked of marrying before she discovered, to her horror, that his 指名する and the photograph he used on the app was 偽の.

A 探偵，刑事 設立する he was really a London-based 合法的な (n)役員／(a)執行力のある who spent 週末s with his wife and children in the North.

She is 決定するd to make it 違法な to 提起する／ポーズをとる as someone else online. As she points out: ‘The problem is that 法律制定 is not keeping up with 科学（工学）技術.’

Amanda 在庫／株s can only agree. ‘I would never recommend internet dating,’ she 結論するs, ‘but if you are going that 大勝する you should take care. 信用 your instincts and don’t get swept away by your dreams.’

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