Man jailed for £120,000 romance fraud
Maxwell Rusey formerly of Nuneaton scammed his victim
A man from Warwickshire has been jailed after he scammed a woman out of more than £120,000.
In May 2023, a victim came forward to tell police she had transferred a lot of money to a man she had met online, but now believed she had been defrauded.
The woman, from Kent, had joined a website to meet new people and had been contacted by Maxwell Rusey, who claimed to be an army officer involved in 'covert operations' in Mali.
Following further messages between the two, Rusey said he wanted to live with the victim when he returned to the UK.
He told her he had a consignment of gold which he needed to import back to the UK and asked if she could help his friend pay the relevant duties and taxes.
The woman agreed and, in 16 separate transactions in 2022 and 2023, paid £128,500 into accounts that Rusey claimed belonged to his colleague.
Detectives found that the accounts had actually been set up by Maxwell Rusey, formerly of Nuneaton.
He was arrested in March 2024 and later charged with fraud and money laundering offences, after a fake passport used to set up one of the accounts was found in his possession.
The 53-year-old admitted money laundering and possession of articles for use in fraud before Woolwich Crown Court and was jailed for five years on Monday 23 September.
Detective Constable Mark Newman, Kent Police's investigating officer, said:
'Romance fraud is a particularly cruel offence which causes serious emotional harm for victims, as well as the financial impact it entails.
Many victims struggle to report offences due to the level of deception used by fraudsters and I would like to praise the victim in this case for coming forward and supporting this prosecution.
I am pleased that the court has recognised the seriousness of the offence in the sentence handed down and I hope it sends a message to other offenders that jail awaits them.'