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Alice, a solicitor from Shropshire, was conned into handing over £42,000 to a former schoolfriend, who she started a relationship with in 2020. Mark, not his real name, used Alice’s money to fund his double life with another woman. What makes her case unusual is that Alice knew Mark and they had a full relationship – a lot of romance fraud takes place between people who connect online or in some cases have never even met. A lack of understanding meant “in person” romance fraud was not always taken seriously by police forces.
Alice and Mark went to the same school, had a brief relationship in their 20s, and had 50 mutual friends on Facebook. In October 2020, Mark began to message Alice regularly and they reconnected, sharing tastes in music and food as well as stories of the past. Their relationship blossomed online during the pandemic. However, by April 2021, Alice had lent Mark £20,000. The sale to repay her never happened, and the loan grew.
Trips to Wimbledon and Cyprus – funded by Alice – ensued, and Mark was even there for her following the death of her grandfather. “Everything was towards him getting him back on his feet – get his health sorted out, getting him back at work earning again, so he could stabilize his life and we could be happy,” Alice said. Throughout, she made bank transfers for new clothes, glasses, a car to get to job interviews, money for psychotherapy, treatments for a skin condition, and rent payments on his home.
After breaking up with Mark in October 2023, she decided to report what had occurred to the police. However
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