€500,000 romance scam among millions lost in online fraud cases

A woman who lost €500,000 in a romance scam was among thousands of victims of online fraud in Malta over the last three years.

The woman, aged in her 70s, had described herself to police as “happily married”, but gave the money to a man who claimed to be an engineer trapped in Turkey without a visa.

She was one of 3,300 people and businesses in Malta who lost more than €32 million to various forms of online fraud, including cybercrime, including e-commerce scams and investment fraud, since 2022.

In another case, a publicly listed company transferred €250,000 to scammers who posed as a UK company that was due a payment as part of a five-year contract.

Their cases and the figures were presented by police inspectors Clive Brimmer Claire Vella Borg from the Economic Crime Unit during a recent conference organised by NGO Victim Support Malta.

Online fraud cases in Malta.

Investment fraud affected 374 victims, resulting in €5.6 million in losses. Romance scams defrauded 67 individuals of €1.7 million, while e-commerce/online store scams, where buyers or sellers are deceived during online transactions, cost over 1,000 victims a total of €3.9 million. Bank scams, where fraudsters pose as banks, impacted 1,200 people and led to €1.5 million in losses.

Brimmer emphasised the need for constant public awareness and prevention efforts.

“The problem is huge, but we need to find solutions… we need to evangelise continuously about prevention to control the problem,” he said.

'Guilt and shame'

Victim Support Malta director Karl Grech explained that cyber criminals preyed on people’s basic human needs, such as love and financial security. This was tied in with a sense of urgency and immediacy.

This is why everybody is vulnerable to this sort of crime as it depends on the state they are in at any particular point in time, Grech said. Victims are often overwhelmed by a sense of guilt and shame, and feel they do not deserve to be treated as victims because they feel they brought it onto themselves. But this was a crime and they were victims, he stressed.

Kyra Borg, service coordinator at Victim Support Malta, explained that cybercrime involves the use of technology to commit or facilitate a crime.

In Malta, cybercrime cases rose by 93 per cent between 2012 and 2022, driven by increased reliance on digital tools, the expansion of remote work and broader access to personal information online.

To address the emotional and psychological effects of such crimes, Victim Support Malta now offers the Cyber Abuse Therapy Service (CATS). This new programme offers free psychotherapy, counselling, family therapy, psychiatry, and a legal consultation to victims of cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crimes.

The project is funded through the Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme, managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector.

Anyone affected by cybercrime can contact Victim Support Malta at 2122 8333, e-mail info@victimsupport.org.mt or fill in the referral form available on the Victim Support Malta website.