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AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA has warned members of the public to be aware of ‘romance fraud’ ahead of St Valentine’s Day tomorrow.
In 2019, 75 cases of so-called romance fraud were reported to gardaí. The victims were both male and female. The total losses suffered were in excess of €1 million.
“This particular fraud is enabled via online dating sites or other social media by fraudsters who will provide the victims with well-prepared stories designed to deceive,” gardaí said in a statement issued today.
They said victims “develop online relationships with the fraudsters, who use fake identities, photographs and life stories”.
“Inevitably, the fraudster will ask their victim for money. The fraudster will continue to ask for money until the victim has no more money to give or realise they are being conned.
“This crime often leaves vulnerable people with a feeling of hurt and mistrust in addition to their financial loss,” the statement notes.
Gardaí said the warning signs of such scams include:
• The fraudster asking the victim to communicate by instant messaging, text or phone calls rather than messaging through the dating website
• The fraudster will start asking for money for various reasons, starting with low amounts:
- to pay for travel to meet the victim
- to pay moving expenses (ship furniture and pay customs)
- to pay medical expenses for a sick child or relative
- to invest in a guaranteed business opportunity
- to pay a tax bill or other spurious reason
• No meetings in person take place; the fraudster will present reasons for not meeting, or may arrange to meet and then cancel
• The fraudster will avoid personal questions, but will ask plenty
• They will ask for money to be transferred to bank accounts abroad or via money transfer agencies to locations outside of Ireland
• Phone calls from Irish numbers or lodgements to Irish bank accounts should not be considered as evidence that the person is genuine
Large sums of money
In one case an Irish victim developed a relationship with a male on a dating website. He gained her trust and she sent him €62,000 over a period of time, gardaí said.
In another case, a victim linked up with a female in an online chat room and ended up sending her €50,000.
Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Lordan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau has the following advice for people:
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Heard about this story through the grapevine yesterday……
Song number 2 won’t pay for me….
Neither will play for me. Does this mean they’re the same?
Might help if you could play them?
‘This video is not available’
Ditto
Song two broke
Robbin’ Thicko.
Where’s the option for they don’t sound alike, because they don’t sound alike?
Ian dempsey played blurred lines a few weeks ago. ..the very last thing I ever want to hear again is the song finishing and Ian continuing with ‘I know you want it..’ puke!
Ian has recently taken to singing the last few lines of another song in an Irish /Caribbean accent “all about da bass, da bass” Makes me want to eat my own face!
Reminds me of the great Morecambe and Wise sketch when playing for Andre Previn – and he tells Eric that he’s playing the wrong notes – ‘i’m playing the right notes – but not necessarily in the right order’.
Another rip off, if you look hard enough you’ll probably find a lot of modern songs do this. I remember people used to say Kid Rock was putting his own twist on Sweet Home Alabama with that summer song he had, turned out he’d taken the whole thing from another song called Werewolves of London. In his case I think he had permission but he just keeps it quiet so people think he wrote it himself. A lot of these so-called musicians’ only talent is being marketable. It’s even more obvious now the only reason Pharrell Williams was brought in for Blurred Lines was exposure, not for his musical ability because they already had the bones of the song and anyone could turn Gaye’s into Thicke’s with the software that’s available now. It’s a soulless industry now.
Does there come a point where modern pop simply runs out of notes to play an starts to consume itself?
Anyhow, never mind all that. To my ears, pop music a la Spin South West sounds bloody awful. If young people were listening to stuff I liked that would be more of a concern. C’mon da Biffy an all that.
Anyone notice how much Dylan’s “With God on our Side” sounds like “The Patriot Game” by our very own Dominic Behan?
There’s a true scandal.
Play *
This non playback situation is happening regularly on the Journal. Why don’t you check what you’re posting guys as its very annoying and amateurish.
Video playback restricted on certain sites….?
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