ACCORDING to the old music hall song, all the nice girls love a sailor but there’s no love lost on a rogue sea captain has been scamming women out of money.
According to Garda Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Ber Leetch, a Limerick woman in her early 40s lost a lot of money to a man who claimed he was a sea captain and spent weeks working a very convincing scam pretending to develop a romantic friendship with her.
Said Sgt Leetch said that the woman received a friend request from a gentleman and she accepted it.
“He claimed to be a sea captain and, to make a long story short, a romantic on-line relationship began”.
“They spoke frequently by phone and he sent a number of photos. After about three weeks, he asked for her address so that she could receive a package on his behalf as he was at sea and unable to receive it. The lady agreed.
“She received a number of emails regarding the delivery of this package and, in one of them, money was requested for delivery cost. Unfortunately, she paid the sum requested.
Not long afterwards, the “sea captain” disappeared and with him a large amount of money he had taken from the woman’s bank account.
Sgt Leetch added that this is not the only time the fraudulent Romeo took money from women who were convinced he was legitimate.
“There were a number of incidents internationally so much so that the real sea captain, whose identity the scammers stole, had to issue a warning on social media and even he warned people not to send money to strangers.
“I cannot stress enough how important it is to make sure you know exactly who you are providing your bank details to, otherwise you might as well be standing on the street and handing out your cash to complete strangers,” Sgt Leetch warned.
