Is my online lover a FAKE? We 調査／捜査する a U.S. Army major who's dating a 70-year-old reader
We all know at least one happy couple who fell in love after 会合 online.?
After watching her friends find their perfect match, Clara Pierce* was 希望に満ちた that she too would enjoy a serious 関係 with her boyfriend Shawn, whom she met on TikTok last November.
Clara, 70, from Cheshire, 収容する／認めるs she was 最初 懐疑的な when Shawn messaged her out of the blue on the ビデオ social マスコミ app requesting to follow her, but once they started chatting 経由で text, they couldn’t stop ― and began messaging several times a day.
The only thing 妨げるing them 会合 in person was that Shawn, a 55-year-old Sergeant Major in the U.S. army, was 地位，任命するd in イスラエル and would not return from his 小旅行する of 義務 to his home in Florida until May, she says.?
In the 合間, he needed help 支払う／賃金ing his phone 法案 so they could continue to message, for which she willingly sent £1,534.99 in total. In return, Shawn surprised Clara with a silver necklace sent to her home, where she lives alone.
Romance scam: Last month we 警告するd about a rise in scammers 提起する／ポーズをとるing as US 軍の 職員／兵員 （軍隊を）展開する，配備するd to the Middle East, who then asked for money
Although the couple had never spoken over the phone, Clara planned to 飛行機で行く to Florida on his return, when he said they could finally start their lives together.
But as Clara read Money Mail on Valentine’s Day last month, she says she was 打ち勝つ by a feeling of dread.?
Our 報告（する）／憶測 about a romance scammer who concocted stories and 身元s to prey on women had alarming similarities to her own online 関係, she says.
We had 警告するd about a rise in scammers 提起する／ポーズをとるing as U.S. 軍の 職員／兵員 （軍隊を）展開する，配備するd to the Middle East, who then asked for money to 支払う／賃金 for phone 法案s, uniforms or food and who typically ask for the 支払い（額）s to be made 経由で Bitcoin.
This matched Shawn’s 支援する story word for word. Clara, a retired pharmacy 専門家技術者, could not ignore the 警告 調印するs so she approached Money Mail in the hope that we could put her 恐れるs about Shawn to 残り／休憩（する）.
She told us: ‘I started thinking something isn’t 権利 but I’m fond of him and he seems really 本物の so I hope it turns out all 権利. I don’t want to jeopardise our 関係, but I 猛烈に need to know for sure. I’d be so upset if he turned out to be a fraudster.
‘Are there really many American 兵士s 地位，任命するd in イスラエル and patrolling against Hamas? Any time I ask Shawn or question him he makes me feel 有罪の, 会談 me 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and says he would never 嘘（をつく） to me. I don’t know what to do.
‘Perhaps I’m 存在 冷笑的な, but it does seem a bit far-fetched him 存在 there and, if he is 55, surely that is too old for active 義務.’
Clara had felt uneasy at the age Shawn had given, 55, when he appeared closer to 35 in his pictures. The 70-year-old’s daughter also 発言する／表明するd her 関心 over Shawn’s legitimacy, asking her to be careful.?
Clara’s own digging 設立する Shawn online and she checked his phone number was indeed a Florida number (which it was) but 設立する no 証拠 of his age.
Money Mail agreed to team up with 最高の，を越す 詐欺 専門家s at 全国的な, Clara’s building society, to 調査／捜査する whether her 関係 was 偽の and if the money was 基金ing 犯罪のs. The proof we 設立する was irrefutable.
調査（する）: We discovered that the pictures Clara had been sent of Shawn had been used by scammers to financially 偉業／利用する other women and were 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）d on scam 警告 websites
We discovered that the pictures Clara had been sent of Shawn had been used by scammers to financially 偉業／利用する other women and were 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）d on scam 警告 websites.?
The home that Shawn said he owned in Florida had also recently been sold. Over the three months of their 関係, Clara had sent £1,534.99 in five 処理／取引s to Shawn, several of which were made 経由で Bitcoin.
She says: ‘He said he needed money to 支払う／賃金 his phone 法案s, which were £250 each time.
‘He also doesn’t like the food in イスラエル and needed money to buy American food, which he said was expensive.
‘Shawn told me he couldn’t 接近 his bank account and wouldn’t be able to get the money if it wasn’t paid with Bitcoin so I had to learn how to do that.’
However, the third 移転 to a crypto 通貨 app failed to go through, for 推論する／理由s unknown to 全国的な and Clara.?
She says she was then told by Shawn to send the money to a Mr Bohdan Samoniuk, who Shawn （人命などを）奪う，主張するd would be able to get the money to him.
Jim Winters, director of 経済的な 罪，犯罪 at 全国的な, says: ‘This 事例／患者 was a textbook example of a romance scam and, by reading the Daily Mail’s article, our 顧客 was able to realise many red 旗s were 明らかな in her own 状況／情勢. While it is upsetting, we’re pleased to have put a stop to it 早期に.’
Clara has 封鎖するd Shawn on all social マスコミ and said she will no longer speak to him. ‘I’ve been so fond of him, it’s very upsetting because he sent such lovely messages. I live alone and when we started chatting I got drawn in,’ she says.
Clara has now received a 十分な reimbursement from 全国的な of money she transferred to the 犯罪の 提起する／ポーズをとるing as Shawn.
Most banks should reimburse you if you’ve transferred money to someone because of a scam but they are able to 辞退する refunds where you 港／避難所’t been ‘十分に careful’.
This 適用するs, for example, if you didn’t 支払う／賃金 attention to 警告s your bank gives you or if you failed to let your bank know as soon as possible if you 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う you’ve been scammed.
Mr Winters says: ‘Anyone can become a 犠牲者 of a romance scam because 犯罪のs can be persuasive enough to get someone looking for love or feeling lonely to give them their 信用, personal 詳細（に述べる）s and 最終的に money, even if they 港／避難所’t met.’
Romance scams have jumped by a fifth in the past year, によれば Lloyds Bank. An 概算の £4.3million has already been lost to romance 詐欺 this year, によれば banking 貿易（する） 団体／死体 UK 財政／金融.
Clara says: ‘I feel humiliated but I’m so 感謝する to the Mail and 全国的な. Shawn the scammer is now 削除するd, lesson learnt!’
- Are you worried you have been scammed? Get in touch: j.耐えるd@dailymail.co.uk
*指名するs have been changed.
