Romance fraudster targeted widow, 81, who was heartbroken by death of her husband and fleeced her out of £27,000

An 81-year-old widower was fleeced out of £27,000 after being targeted by a romance fraudster who took advantage of her loneliness.
Doreen Daniel became the victim of the scammer shortly following the death of her husband Gordon, leaving her family devastated.
Romance fraud is when scammers pretend to be interested in a relationship with their victim in order to gain their trust before manipulating them into sending money or personal information.
Doreen, from Angmering in West Sussex, received messages and calls on WhatsApp from a man claiming to be a financial advisor called Adam, living in Switzerland and Monaco.
After building a friendship with her, he convinced the widower to download an app that let him take remote control of her devices and transfer money out of her bank accounts.
The fraudster convinced Doreen that the money would be entered into a raffle for a chance to win £100,000.
Her family said they did not know that she was being scammed until her bank card was declined while food shopping.
After going through accounts, they became aware of huge amounts of money that had been taken out of Doreen's account.
The scammer had also archived all of the messages on WhatsApp so her family 'didn't find them for ages'.
The family believe she was targeted by the scammer due to the fact she had been recently widowed.
Karen Daniel, Doreen's daughter, told the BBC: 'To hit on someone who is that vulnerable when they have just lost their life partner, it makes me feel sick. How can somebody been so cruel to do that?'.
They also believe Doreen had been victim of several other scams before the romance fraud including ordering diet pills through dodgy social media links.
Another incident saw the family find a man in her house attempting to persuade her to buy water softening product for £4,000.
Doreen's granddaughter, Jasmine El Samad, a journalism student, recorded a conversation with her grandmother to gain a better understanding of the scam.
In the recording, Doreen admitted that Adam made her feel 'special' and sounded 'very knowledgeable' but added that he wouldn't let her see him on a video call.
Believing she was entering a raffle to win the digital currency bitcoin, Doreen said she continued to allow the investments despite thinking something didn't feel right.
Jasmine said: 'He'd complimented her appearance, saying things like, "you can't be 80".
'Flattery would have got you anywhere with Nan quite frankly at that point, after Granddad passed away.
'Making her think that she had this friend that was also going to change her life financially - it was the perfect combination of an attack really.
Doreen's family were able to get around £18,000 back from the bank but the crime was never reported to the police.
The 81-year-old died in November 2023 after suffering two mini strokes which her family believe was brought on by the loss of her husband and the stress caused by the scams.
Fraud makes up 40 per cent of all recorded crime in England and Wales, Home Office figures show with Action Fraud saying that in £92m was lost by victims to romance scams in 2024.
Between 2020 and 2024, the cases of romance scams reported to Action Fraud have increased by 27 per cent.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Daily Mail​

28 minutes ago

• Daily Mail​

EXCLUSIVE 'The life we built has been destroyed': Heartbroken family-of-five left homeless after 'stranger burnt down £64k canal boat because he wrongly believed they had torched his boat'

A devastated family-of-five fears their 'life has been destroyed' after an intruder allegedly broke into their houseboat and set it alight in what is believed to be a case of mistaken identity. For the last six years, Tess, 35, and her husband Akin, 33, have painstakingly turned their canal boat from an empty shell into a comfortable family home. They always viewed 'October' - named after the month in which their first child Asa, five, was born - as more than just a floating residence. Aside from the cosy internal living area, the 60ft boat was built to be a sustainable home, with solar power panels, a water filtration system and its very own roof garden, which was known for its lush array of tomatoes, strawberries, aubergines, cucumbers and potatoes. There were also many other reasons the boat held such a special place in their hearts - for it was here on board October that the couple's two youngest children Myra-Rae, 3 and Zephaniah, aged four months, were born. But cherished memories might be all the family have left to hold onto after their houseboat, docked in Hackney Wick, east London, was set alight by an individual unknown to the family in the early hours of Saturday, May 24. Thankfully, Tess and the children were away camping at the time, while Akin had gone out for the evening with friends. But when he returned, fire crews were already at the scene battling to put out the ferocious flames. In that moment, Akin, who works as a digital health consultant, believed it could be 'the end of everything' - and was left helplessly watching from the bridge as October was consumed by flames. Before and after: The family had lovingly restored the boat from a shell into a 'beautiful' home - but now they fear they might not be able to return A Met Police officer told the family afterwards they may have simply been unfortunate victims of 'mistaken identity' in a possible tit for tat boat-burning incident. Now effectively homeless, the family has had to resort to staying for a few days at a time with friends after Hackney Council revealed there was no emergency housing anywhere in London. As a single income family-of-five they say a mortgage is simply out of their reach, while the cost to restore the boat to its former glory could prove far too high. Adding to their woes, they bought October in 2019 as an unfitted boat for £64,000 and spent the next six years transforming it into their 'beautiful' family home. But they did not get it reassessed by their insurance before the boat was set ablaze - meaning they stand to only get a payout for its original value as an empty vessel and not what it could have been worth before the fire. Determined to help them return to the life they one knew, friends of the family have set up a GoFundMe appeal to ease their financial burden, but the couple admit the tragedy could spell the end of their canal boating days. Speaking to MailOnline, Tess explained how she and Akin first began living on canal boats nine years ago. 'The lifestyle we have enjoyed with the children has been wonderful because you can be in London, but you're also in nature. 'You've got the marshes and the ducks on the water. There's a really nice boating community and we've met many other families with young children.' But that almost idyllic existence was brought to an abrupt halt over the last Bank Holiday weekend. Recalling the events of that night, Akin said he was walking home after an evening out with friends when he could see an array of emergency lights in the distance and 'a massive deal going on'. He said: 'A fireman stopped me and said: "Well, you can't come through here." But then I told him I live on a boat, so he walked me up to the bridge, pointed and said, "Is it that boat there?" 'That's when I saw my home was on fire. There were firefighters and police cars everywhere. 'In that moment I just thought it was the end of everything. I couldn't imagine anything surviving from what I could see - not much did. 'But it was also this feeling of we built that. It's not like we rented the boat. That was everything we had built over the last almost 10 years. 'It just felt unbelievable to think everything was gone.' Among the items destroyed forever were those steeped in sentimental value, including a teddy bear their eldest, Asa, has slept with since he was a baby. Tess said: 'I lost my great-grandmother's jewellery box, which she had given to me and I was really close to her. So that was upsetting. 'There was also a quilt, which is an old family thing, and also another quilt that my mum made for my son when he was born, and lots of things like that.' Meanwhile Akin has lost many of his prized personal effects. 'I've been DJing since I was 16 to pay my way through university - now all my DJ equipment has gone and my record collection has melted,' he said. 'All my musical instruments, the piano, my guitars, they were destroyed as well. 'I enjoyed collecting sneakers since I was 20, and those have all been burnt up. 'We hardly have anything of our own anymore.' In the aftermath of the incident, the couple say returning to the fire-ravaged wreck has left them traumatised as they began to process what had happened. 'The first time I went back I was in shock. Just the devastation was incredible. 'Everything was gone, it was full of water and there was broken glass everywhere. 'I had to go in again when the insurance surveyor came and looked at it, and I found that much harder. I came out shaking that time,' said Tess. Asa added: 'I couldn't recognise my own home. Part of me thought we had been broken into and robbed, but the forensics guy started pointing out computers, phones, water bottles. I didn't recognise anything because it had all melted.' For now, the family are trying to come to terms with the loss of their home as they decide what their next steps will be. While they have been offered emergency housing, it would have meant having to move miles outside of London and away from friends, school and work. 'The first thing my three-year-old asked when I told her about the fire was "has my nursery burnt down as well?", recalled Tess. 'I couldn't take the children away from everything they know. 'They've lost their home. I can't have them lose everything else all at the same time. 'So I was desperate to keep them at their school and in the community. 'Moving away would also mean that Akin and I wouldn't have any support or help, and it just seemed completely overwhelming. 'But it's hard for us, because every week we are having to find someone else who can host us. We understand that no one can put up a family-of-five indefinitely.' Akin continued: 'The insurance money might pay for rent for two or three years, but it's not enough for a mortgage. That's the real shock of the whole thing. We don't really know how to restart. 'People have discussed rebuilding the boat, but a couple of professionals we spoke to said the interiors could be very toxic, and we're not sure we could afford to get it rebuilt and refitted. 'Our friends and the boating community have been just overwhelmingly supportive and kind. 'We're just trying to see what our way forward will be.' A 34-year-old man of no fixed address has been charged with arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered. He is due to appear at Wood Green Crown Court next week.

The Independent

30 minutes ago

• The Independent

Brit arrested in Cyprus accused of spying

A British man has been arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of espionage and terrorism offences. He is alleged to have been monitoring the RAF Akrotiri base and is suspected of having links with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Intelligence suggested the man was planning an imminent terrorist attack, leading to his arrest on Friday. The man was reportedly observed near RAF Akrotiri, a critical UK airbase for Middle East operations, carrying a camera with a long lens and multiple mobile phones. The UK Foreign Office is in contact with Cypriot authorities regarding the arrest of the British national.

Daily Mail​

an hour ago

• Daily Mail​

Nigel Farage becomes latest MP to cast doubt over Lucy Letby murder conviction

Nigel Farage has added his voice to growing concerns about the safety of Lucy Letby 's murder convictions, saying that he is 'getting more and more doubts'. The Reform UK leader was responding to a powerful article in the Daily Mail by Sir Jeremy Hunt, who was Health Secretary when the babies died at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Sir Jeremy called for an urgent re-examination of the case, saying: 'If Letby really did kill seven babies in their cots and attempted to kill seven more, no punishment short of the death penalty is too harsh. 'But if they were caused by professional shortcomings, we need to know why. 'More than anything else, we need to make sure other families don't have to go through the same tragedy.' He added he had noted the findings of the international panel of paediatric specialists and neonatologists, and had also read a 'wide range of expert concerns about the conduct of the criminal case'. Sir Jeremy said: 'Taken together... this analysis raises serious and credible questions about the evidence presented in court, the robustness of expert testimony and the interpretation of statistical data.' Mr Farage told GB News: 'I'm just beginning to get more and more doubts about that issue.' Since Letby lost her appeal last year a mass of evidence undermining the prosecution's case has been gathered by her new legal team. It has raised questions about the claim the nurse was on duty for every suspicious incident and over the testimony of Dr Dewi Evans, 75, the prosecution's chief expert witness. The Criminal Cases Review Commission, which deals with potential miscarriages of justice, is studying the new material, which includes evidence that Dr Evans changed his mind over how three babies died.