An elderly British man has lost his life savings of £85,000 in a romance scam that left him homeless. Rodrick Lodge, 69, was introduced to an apparent Kenyan woman named Anita by a friend he had met in the country. Mr Lodge subsequently sent money to fund renovations to a house she claimed to own. He believed she would marry him, after which he would move to Nairobi. Instead he found Anita did not exist at Nairobi airport upon arrival. He later discovered his “friend” had perpetrated the scam.
Following the death of his wife Pauline in 2019, Mr Lodge was vulnerable and seeking companionship. “Now this has ruined my future life – I’ve got no life now and I have got nothing to get up for. I have no family, only a few friends who call me an idiot,” he said. The experience has prompted his call for those guilty of romance scams to “rot in hell”.
Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, has offered advice on how to avoid romance scams. “It said it was important, no matter how long you have spoken to someone you have not met in person, that you do not send them money,” the BBC reports. It also recommended against taking loans out for the other party, allowing them bank access or sending or receiving parcels on their behalf.
According to figures from the UK Office for National Statistics, people in England and Wales were victimised by 364,643 reported fraud incidents last year. Romance fraud was up 26% YoY. Last week, Barclays bank launched an initiative offering free Kaspersky cyber security software to online banking customers. The technology was said to prevent keylogging, wiretapping and other malware-based attacks
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