As the use of social media and dating apps has increased, so has the number of online scams.
In 2023, 1,313 reports were made that were classified as romance scams, according to new statistics from the Crime Prevention Council. That’s pretty much the same number as the year before.
In the years before that, however, there has been a steady increase every year.
Lost close to half a million
Very recently, a man living in central Sweden was convicted at the Gällivare District Court for serious money laundering. The victim was a woman in Malmfälten who had sent a total of 470,000 to the man before she realized she was the victim of a scam.
Parts of the chat history can be read in the police preliminary investigation. It appears that the woman tried in vain to get the man to send a recent picture of himself or to talk to him on the phone.
At the same time, the man has been in contact with other women online who have fallen into the same trap. A woman in Östergötland brought over SEK 294,000 to the man. Nor had she been allowed to speak to the man.
Shame can be behind dark speech
When the police have investigated the transfers, there is money from another number of women who apparently chose not to make a police report.
– Either they are incredibly ashamed or they have not understood that they have been exposed to a crime, says Anders Persson, prosecutor in Örebro who has been involved in prosecuting the case.
In the clip, we tell you step by step how the fraud took place.