THERE is a growing trend of fraudsters using emotions as a weapon to con victims out of thousands of pounds, a top police inspector has warned.

Motivated “by money and greed”, so-called romance fraud sees loving victims parting with their cash after being manipulated by “sophisticated” tricksters.

The latest case, in which six women came forward in court to testify against Sidney Ochouba and Busayo Oladapo, is just the tip of the iceberg in the technique - which is growing in popularity among con artists.

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Robertson of the Economic, Crime and Financial Investigations team, pictured, believes there is a fear among victims to come forward after being emotionally duped.

He revealed that in this case, there were initially 36 people who came forward having been potential victims - with only six eventually giving evidence in court.

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The DCI said: “There is a main reason why they don’t come to court and that would be the stigma that is attached to reporting this type of crime.

“It would take a brave individual to not only report it to the police, but actually stand up and tell the world what has happened to you - the fact you’ve been duped, you’ve been scammed, by someone you thought cared for you and that wasn’t the case.”

“You will see a need you have being met and you start to invest in that not only financially buy emotionally as well, and that’s where the damage that is caused.

“It’s not the fact its £1000 or £2000, but it’s the breach of trust that’s so hard to take.

“That’s why a lot of it doesn’t get reported.

“They want to get your money and take as much of it as they possibly can, whether that’s linked to romance or praying on some form of vulnerability or need at the time and that type of person is a horrible person.”

Official figures from the force show that from April to December 2018, the number of reported fraud incidents, including romance scams, increased by 21% - from 6106 the previous year to 7398.

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Like the case yesterday, most instances of romance fraud begin on online dating sites - before moving into personal chats where the con artist works to make the victim feel safe enough to transfer money.

And while new protocol which sees banking firms have the capability to step in when seeing unusual transfers is a starting point, the DCI questioned how many cases go unnoticed because they are slipping through without being reported.

He said it “wouldn’t surprise him” that suggested figures show only 5% of romance fraud cases are reported, warning “the fact people don’t want to come forward will attract criminals, because the risk is low but the result is high.”

DCI Robertson added: “What we know is we have stopped a number of cases through banking protocol but for everyone we have stopped then they just move on to another one and another one.

“But how many people are transferring money that we don’t know about?

“We can see the scale and that romance fraud is a trend that is emerging and growing.”

He added that the victims who “had the courage to step forward” should be “applauded”

He said: “It’s given us the opportunity to put a stronger message out there and say that it does happen, it happens to people you never think it would happen to, so don’t feel embarrassed that it’s happened to you.”