A romance scam can be easy to fall for | Letter

📊 Business News Analysis: Our editorial team has analyzed recent developments from theguardian.com in the Business sector. This report covers key insights related to and emerging industry trends that professionals should monitor closely.

New developments in Business are drawing attention from industry experts. Re your article (‘I opened up like a giant elevator’: the seven sly, savage stages of a £100,000 romance scam, 11 November), in January 2017 I met a man who was both charming and entertaining. He knew all about bitcoin cryptocurrency and told me why I should invest in it.

According to reports that in fact, he said: “I will add you to my portfolio, then you will get more for your investment because wealthy people don’t spend money, they invest.”
He told me he lived in London, but only when I did my own detective work did I discover that he lived in Wales. He had lied so proficiently, so calmly that I believed him. According to reports that in September 2017, after being absent in the summer, he returned because he knew that I had received an inheritance and was doing up my apartment.

I had an interior design business and this was important to me. I explained this to him because he was pestering me, saying that I should invest more money with him and use the investment’s earnings, which I could access anytime, to then spend. According to reports that thankfully, I did not do this.

I thought £34,000 was sufficient and that I would be able to pay off my own mortgage in time with my investment – bitcoin was doing well. When the painful penny finally dropped on New Year’s Eve that year after he vanished again, I realised that I had fallen for a scam and had lost all my money. I felt sick to my stomach. How could I have let down my two sons so badly?

How could I have entrusted a man I knew very little about with my money, to make investments for me in bitcoin? Data shows that the police eventually took me seriously and investigated him. It transpired that he had done the same thing to several others. Evidence suggests that yet I was notified by email in December 2023 that they were closing my case due to there being insufficient evidence.Name and address supplied

As the situation continues to develop, industry participants in Business will likely monitor outcomes closely.

— Based on reporting from theguardian.com

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