Northern echo article 21st April 2012

[Wayne]

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/9 ... _320_000_/

The latest victim of online fraudsters who use fake North-East businesses and locations has come forward after losing his entire life savings of £320,000.

A PRETTY young artist living in the North-East of England appeals for help to a friend she has recently met online.

She had got into a spot of bother and needs some money.

She will pay her new friend back of course – she is due to receive thousands of pounds from a client – but a small amount of money to cover her bill for the Poulett Hotel, in Woodland Road, Darlington, would be much appreciated.

The man, a 59-year-old from Belgium, is happy to help. The woman, also from Belgium, says she is due to return home soon and the pair discuss meeting up.

However, the day before the woman, Chloe Elsevier, is scheduled to fly home, the man gets an email from her solicitor.

There is another problem. Miss Elsevier is in custody at the airport over unpaid taxes.

The solicitor says she needs a little more money to be released.

The man agrees. He doesn’t know it yet, but the unemployed father-of-one has become the latest victim of a gang of internet fraudsters.

Over the next 12 months, the man pays out increasingly large sums of money in the belief his new friend is genuine and will one day pay him back.

The con is elaborate with the scammers spinning a web of lies, many of which are based around people and places in County Durham.
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Man paid out £320,000 to North-East internet scam

After being released from custody, Miss Elsevier emails to say she has been paid, however the bank is demanding a “collecting fee”.

The artist’s solicitor, Ronald Cook, from Durham City solicitors Gilstar, negotiates but the outstanding sum is still £15,000.

Miss Elsevier is then offered a huge new contract to produce a sculpture for a County Durham company, but needs some money, £20,000, to kickstart the job.

Three months later and the work is nearly completed but then disaster strikes; the sculpture falls while being packed and three employees are injured.

The men ask for £150,000 in compensation, although this later rises to £250,000. Again, the man reluctantly agrees.

A few weeks later, he sends Miss Elsevier a spare digital camera for her to record her stay in England.

Requests for money keep coming. Then in September last year, the man receives a letter from the Metropolitan Police.

They warn him that he may have been the victim of an online fraud, but instead of contacting detectives as requested, the man emails the letter to Miss Elsevier believing they are all potentially being scammed.

Two months later, he sends £32,500 to his friend as a clearing fee for a cheque she has received, but disaster again strikes when Miss Elsevier is stabbed and mugged while depositing the money.

She recovers, but more money is needed to cover legal fees.

The Belgian victim is now broke, but agrees to borrow £40,000. While waiting for the loan to be processed, he tries to find her solicitor’s company website on Google.

He types in the firm’s name, but instead he finds an online article about a fake solicitor of the same name. In an instant, he realises he has been conned.

There was no struggling artist or solicitor and the Darlington hotel is actually a former architect’s office.

It is all an elaborate hoax and he is now facing ruin.

The article was part of a Northern Echo investigation – prompted by the unexplained delivery of a digital camera to a Darlington office – into online fraudsters who have claimed a string of victims – both men and women.

Arrests have now been made in London in connection with the fraud, although questions remain over why the fraudsters chose to use the North-East as a base for the con