Romance conman scams woman out of £128k by pretending to be elite army officer

A romance fraudster conned a woman out of £128k by claiming to be an army officer working in covert operations in Mali.

Maxwell Rusey convinced his victim to send money - saying he needed it to get a consignment of gold into the UK. But she later realised that she could be a fraud victim and contacted police - who found the bank accounts were linked to the conman.

The 53-year-old, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, later admitted fraud and money laundering offences and jailed for five years. Woolwich Crown Court heard his victim had joined a website to meet new people. She was then contacted by a man who claimed to be an army officer involved in "covert operations" in West Africa.

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Rusey told his victim he wanted to live with her when he returned to the UK and said he had a valuable "consignment of gold" which he needed to import. He then asked if his victim could help a friend pay the relevant duties and taxes.

The woman agreed and sent £128,500 in 16 separate transactions between 2022 and 2023 to accounts Rusey said belonged to his colleague. However, after telling police in May 2023 that she believed she'd been defrauded, detectives found the accounts had been set up by Rusey himself.

He was arrested in March 2024 and later charged with fraud and money laundering offences after a fake passport used to set up one of the accounts was found in his possession.

Detective Constable Mark Newman, of Kent Police, said he hopes the lengthy jail sentence will put off other would-be romance fraudsters.

"Romance fraud is a particularly cruel offence which causes serious emotional harm for victims, as well as the financial impact it entails," he said.

"Many victims struggle to report offences due to the level of deception used by fraudsters and I would like to praise the victim in this case for coming forward and supporting this prosecution.

"I am pleased that the court has recognised the seriousness of the offence in the sentence handed down and I hope it sends a message to other offenders that jail awaits them."