Scammers used photographs of a real Danish sea captain to trick a Scottish pensioner into handing over more than £50,000.
Images of Thomas Lindegaard Madsen, 52, are believed to have been used to scam hundreds of thousands of pounds from lonely women around the world, including Australia and the United States.
The Danish sea captain was even forced to make a YouTube video warning women not to send money to men they have met online.
It comes after Maureen Gunn, 66, stole nearly £15,000 from her mother Jean Marr after being conned by a scammer who promised her a new life after the couple met on Facebook.
Gunn sold her jewellery, a car and took out loans to send more than £50,000 to the man claiming to be a 61-year-old UN Navy captain called Joshua Jacob.
Thomas Lindegaard Madsen’s photo is believed to have been used to scam lonely women around the world.
Maureen Gunn, from Tranent, East Lothian, was convicted of stealing almost £15,000 from her elderly mother to send to romance scammers.
Gunn, from Tranent, East Lothian, even cashed in part of her workplace pension to give to her online suitor after he claimed her funds were “tied up” in offshore accounts.
The lovelorn pensioner pleaded guilty this week to embezzling £14,521.60 while acting as her mother’s primary carer between September 1, 2020 and July 31 last year, when she appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
This prompted a message from the real man, whose image was used to romance Gunn.
Captain Madsen, who is openly gay, said: “I’m shocked that this is the last, but remember, even if you fall in love with a photo or a picture of someone, don’t send money to people you’ve never met.” met in person.
‘A real captain would never ask you for money, captains make a lot of money themselves, they don’t need to ask women for money.
And if a man truly loves you, whether he’s a captain or not, he will never ask you to send him money.
‘So please, please, open your eyes and don’t believe everything you see on the Internet.
“At least don’t send money to anyone you haven’t met in person.”
Gunn was tricked into believing she was in a relationship with the ship’s captain with manipulated images like this one.
Captain Madsen has created a YouTube video warning people about the dangers of online romance fraud.
The scammer sent several photographs claiming to be of him aboard his ship, including a mock image he said was taken in his mansion showing a bedroom with large portraits of him and Gunn on the walls.
After finding herself hooked by the romance scam, Gunn began stealing cash from her own mother’s bank account after being granted power of attorney over her welfare.
He made numerous cash withdrawals from his 89-year-old mother’s account, as well as making a bank transfer of £4,250 which was handed over to the online fraudster.
The court heard the pensioner “foolishly” sold her belongings to raise money to send to the scammer and has since been “shut out by her family” after her crime was discovered.
Gunn told the Mail this week that the scammer had “taken everything from me”.
She said: “I got emails from about eight different people saying how sick he was and that he was going to die if I didn’t help him, and that it was my fault he came.”
Gunn’s brother David Marr branded her a “silly old lady” following her conviction at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
“They said he was in some hospital in London and because he wasn’t a UK citizen he had to pay privately.”
At that point, she said, he had swindled her out of all her money and she began raiding her mother’s account.
She said: ‘He promised me he would give it back to me, and never. He would come here and we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.
Gunn was confronted by angry family members outside the court building, including his brother David Marr, who said the family had been “torn apart” by his sister’s devious act.
Marr, 68, said: “She’s a silly old lady for believing this guy online.” We all told her it was a scam but she continued sending him money.
“She has really divided the family by what she has done.”
Gunn escaped a jail sentence and was instead given a three-year supervision order and ordered to carry out 140 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to custody.
Sheriff John Cook said the offense was “a terrible breach of trust” and also imposed a compensation requirement in the sum of £14,521.60 to be paid at a rate of £150 per month.
