He pretends to be a policeman and scams a woman he met on a dating app in the Canary Islands for €20,000

Civil Guard agents belonging to the Playa de las Américas (Tenerife) Team are investigating a man who allegedly contacted a woman through a dating application, posed as a police officer and convinced her to give him 20,000 euros.

The accused, 48 years old and a resident of Valle San Lorenzo, met with the complainant on several occasions and after gaining her trust and supposedly starting a romantic relationship, he began to ask her for different amounts of money under the pretext that he was going through economic difficulties due to a business he had started.

The victim made several deliveries of money that totaled 20,000 euros, detail sources from the armed institute.

After handing over the money, this person stopped responding to any attempt to contact the victim, even receiving news of his possible death, at which point the woman suspected that she may have been the victim of a scam.

Through a technological investigation and based on the data provided by the victim, the Civil Guard investigators identified the alleged perpetrator of the scam known as 'false romance', who actually works in a workshop.

The agents confirmed that from the beginning it was a premeditated deception, based on a false identity and profession with the aim of gaining the victim's trust to take advantage of her vulnerability and obtain large sums of money.

The Civil Guard recommends using the profile verification function on dating platforms that have it, not sharing financial information with people you meet through this channel and distrusting anyone who asks for money or other financial favors.

It also advises reviewing reviews and comments from other users about the person you meet, and in case of suspecting an attempted scam, gather all possible evidence, such as screenshots, audio or call recordings and transfer them to the state security forces.