My disabled mum said she was in love with US soldier but she’d given conman £169k – she’s one of 1,000s targeted
Scroll down to find out how a Dragons’ Den star is helping to protect older people from scammers
WHEN Chantelle Smith’s mum Jean revealed she was in love with a man called Maxwell, there was deep concern.
Chantelle had no idea how the 68-year-old could be romancing — as she was trapped in her own home with severe diabetes and needed a wheelchair to get about.
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It was not long before she realised the pensioner was being tricked by a sick Facebook conman who ripped her off to the tune of £169,000 over seven years.
The scam took an even darker turn when the swindler sent Chantelle intimate pictures of her mum while Jean was in hospital, in an attempt to blackmail her.
Jean said: “I’ve been very silly but I was so lonely.
“I’ve been on my own for over ten years.
“I went on Facebook and a man sent me a message saying ‘hello’ and it just kind of went from there.
“I am now talking to warn other people, as these scams need to stop.”
Jean owes around £9,000 to energy companies and £8,000 to her carers after transferring huge amounts of her pension and disability payments to the conman through MoneyGram, as well as sending countless vouchers for Amazon and Apple.
Chantelle, 34, said: “It’s an absolute nightmare how much debt mum is in now.
“We begged her to stop sending money but she wouldn’t listen.
“When she told Maxwell we were worried, he would twist things around to make out we were jealous of their relationship.
“We asked everyone involved with mum’s care to help us stop it, but they said she had the capacity to make her own decisions and this man was abroad, so their hands were tied.”
Avon and Somerset Police say they have tracked the fraudster down to Nigeria and have called in the National Crime Agency — Britain’s version of the FBI — to help nail him.
Jean met the man who called himself Maxwell Johnson on Facebook in 2017.
But it was another two years before she told Chantelle she had a “boyfriend” serving in Syria with the US Air Force.
Mum-of-one Chantelle and partner Tony Launn, 42, persuaded Jean to show them a picture of the man — and a Google search image revealed that “Maxwell” had stolen the image of a US military boss.
‘Wanted it to be true’
He used a profile image belonging to US Command Sgt Benjamin Jones, who has himself posted a Facebook message about fraudsters using his name.
Maxwell’s number has a Nigerian code.
It is likely Jean has fallen victim to a member of the Yahoo Boys — a sextortion gang that has conned thousands of British people.
We kept telling her he wasn’t real but he told Mum he loved her no matter what. He said he didn’t care if she was in a wheelchair or if she needed care
Chantelle
Maxwell convinced Jean he would move to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset to be with her.
Chantelle said: “I think Mum wanted it to be true.
“She said she was in love and that he was going to marry her.
“Mum said he had money of his own and was going to buy somewhere for them to live together.
“We kept telling her he wasn’t real but he told Mum he loved her no matter what.
“He said he didn’t care if she was in a wheelchair or if she needed care.”
Jean sent him as much as £500 a time, supposedly for flights to the UK, but he never turned up.
She gave him an ultimatum in spring 2020 as the pandemic struck — either visit or leave her alone.
Chantelle said: “He claimed to have made it from America as far as London but said he was stuck because of the pandemic.
“He then started saying he was penniless and Mum needed to pay for his hotel, which of course she did.
“She was handing over so much money she stopped eating properly and kept getting really poorly because of her diabetes.
“He never turned up, although he claimed to be in Weston this summer, which is obviously another lie.
“Mum had his email so I kept messaging him, asking to leave her alone, but he didn’t care.”
Jean said she was convinced Maxwell would show up eventually.
She said: “He sent me a picture of the money he was saving for us, which was in a big box.
“He then said the box was held in Ghana where it had been tampered with.
“He said it had since been sealed and he couldn’t get into it until he paid a fee, which I sent him.
“Then he said the courts wouldn’t release it until he paid more.
“He was very convincing.”
Things took a perverse turn in September after Jean refused to send the scammer any more cash.
I’ve seen images that no daughter should ever see. He would stop at nothing to get money – it’s disgusting
Chantelle
At the start of their online “relationship” she gave intimate photos to Maxwell, which he threatened to send to Chantelle unless Jean bought him a £500 Apple voucher.
She rushed to Asda to buy the tokens but accidentally smashed her car into a bollard outside the store and ended up in hospital after slipping into a diabetic coma.
With no time to send the voucher, the vile conman carried out his threat.
“I’ve seen images that no daughter should ever see,” said Chantelle.
“Mum was in hospital when I spotted a message from him and opened up my email and the pictures were just sitting there.
“He would stop at nothing to get money, it’s disgusting.”
Desperate, Chantelle went back to Avon and Somerset Police earlier this year and a detective has now given Jean a stern warning not to send any more money.
‘I wish he could suffer’
Jean said: “I now realise I’ve been scammed and I hate him.
“I thought it was love.
“I wish he could suffer for what he’s done.”
Jean is just one of the rising number of UK victims.
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau received more than 8,000 reports of romance scams in 2022 but experts fear many more are too embarrassed to contact police.
Santander UK has issued a warning after £3.8million was stolen from customer accounts through romance fraud over six months.
The bank, which revealed victims were aged between 18 and 93, said the figure marked a 27 per cent jump compared with the previous half-year period.
The average loss per customer was around £4,500.
Nigerian crooks called Yahoo Boys — so-called after rising to prominence with Yahoo email scams — are behind many scams.
They revel in lives of luxury with flash cars and nice houses and show off their expensive designer gear and jewellery in “hustle rooms” — hotel suites where they pose for online shots.
Meanwhile, their victims fear intimate pictures sent in good faith will be shared across social media unless they give cash or vouchers.
They are behind the deaths of at least three young Britons.
Police in Scotland are believed to be working with Nigerian cops after the suicide of 16-year-old Murray Dowey, of Dunblane, Perthshire, last year.
Murray, 16, was tricked into sending an image of himself to someone he believed was a young woman, then faced demands for cash.
Two years ago, 16-year-old Dina De Alwis took his own life after being sent two naked pictures of himself by an extortioner demanding £100 on Snapchat.
In 2013, Daniel Perry, 17, of Dunfermline, Fife, jumped from the Forth Road Bridge after sharing compromising Skype messages with someone he thought was a young American female.
Earlier this year, Meta removed more than 63,000 Yahoo Boy accounts from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police confirmed Jean was tricked by an “unknown offender likely to be residing in Nigeria”.
He added that officers have visited Jean to explain how she can protect herself from scams.
Dragon drive to cut risk
DRAGONS’ Den star Sara Davies has ploughed cash into a new initiative to help protect older people from scammers.
The entrepreneur, whose grandma suffered from dementia, said: “There’s more risk of being scammed than ever before.
“These criminals take advantage of the most vulnerable in society.
“It’s not just online, either.
“It might be an opportunistic workman who comes to lay a drive or do some work in the house and thinks, ‘This person isn’t quite right’.”
TV personality Sara this year pledged £125,000 to a new debit card and app called Sibstar, which allows families to monitor their loved ones’ spending for red flags.
Sara said: “For some people it’s soul destroying to take away their independence because of dementia.