Five people have been arrested in connection with an alleged fraud known as ‘romance fraud’.
- The victim, an elderly woman, paid thousands of euros during a virtual relationship with a ‘soldier’
A joint investigation between Paola District Police and Anti-Terror Money Laundering Squad within the Department of Financial Crime Investigations, led to the arrest of five people – four men from Nigeria and a Maltese woman – in what was known as a ‘romance fraud’.
After months of investigations, it turned out that an elderly Maltese woman had allegedly lost a considerable amount of money as a victim of fraud over a long period of time during which she entered into a virtual relationship with a person who allegedly was an American soldier on a top mission in Afghanistan, but was going to end this mission and come to live in Malta.
The alleged victim, although she never came face to face with the other person, took this relationship seriously and deposited thousands of euros through various bank transactions after this person allegedly asked him to pay him for the expenses he had incurred.
From the intensive investigations carried out by the Maltese Police, it has emerged that this crime of ‘Romance fraud’, was allegedly carried out in Malta itself, by a number of people who deposited the money in small amounts in various bank accounts for the purpose of money-laundering.
