Five money launderers have been convicted for exploiting victims through romance fraud for a loss of £3.25 million.
Fawaz Ali, 27, Ebenezer Tackie, 42, and Michael Quartey, 28, were found guilty of money laundering-related offences today at Guildford Crown Court after a trial.
Earlier, Kwabena Edusei, 36, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, while George Melseaux, 40, pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and possession of ID documents with intent to misuse them for fraudulent purposes.
For the romance fraud, Edusei and others created fake profiles and fictional biographies on dating websites to trick their victims.
The criminals used flirtatious language to manipulate people into thinking they were entering into a genuine loving and caring relationship.
But this all was a build-up to the fraudsters asking victims for money for fake reasons, including loans to pay for business trips gone wrong, fines being incurred in remote locations and urgently needing money to pay these off, or a stolen wallet.
The victims transferred money to the defendants’ bank accounts or even sent cash in the post. This romance fraud was repeated many times until the victims had no money left or became suspicious, stopped making payments, and alerted the authorities.
Payments were then laundered through the bank accounts of the criminals.
There were 40 confirmed victims of romance fraud, but the total number of suspected victims of fraud was 99.
The total amount of laundered funds across all accounts is estimated to be £3.25 million.
