DI Dave Hanson investigates romance scams for the National Crime Agency. ‘It’s a pretty unpleasant crime’, he told NewsBiscuit. ‘Typically a victim will fall for an AI-generated image and a hard luck story and soon they’re sending thousands of pounds abroad to help the “love of their life” relocate to the UK – except the person doesn’t exist.
‘It’s humiliating for the victim and we never catch anybody because they’re abroad and they’ve got computers. You can’t expect us to compete with that. So we’ve shifted emphasis towards making victims feel better. Our analysis shows that most scams cost between £7k and £12k, whereas an average wedding these days is £25k and that’s before you weigh up birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries etc. If anything, we should be thanking the scammers. So I’ve nominated the most prolific romance scam group for a King’s Award for Industry. It’ll be interesting to see if they turn up to collect the medal.’
Image: Josch13 - Pixabay
- mcdabble
- Dec 12, 2025
Debt collectors, whose work has been publicised by television, admit targeting non-debtors.
A debt collector working for one debt recovery company told us, 'We don't bother trying to get the address right. It's always wrong on the paperwork anyway. So we just pick any old address in the area and turn up on spec.
'Usually people open the front door and I put me foot in, and they can't close it. Then I ask them if they've had any emails or messages asking for payments. That makes them think a bit. They aren't surprised to see us, because most people have had some scam emails, messages or letters demanding payment of debts for all sorts of fake things.
'Thing is, everyone's in debt these days aren't they?
'In the rare case where we do end up taking stuff from people who aren't in debt, they can always take us to court to get the money back. They will need a court order. Then they will need to go to a debt collection agency. It sometimes comes to me as a job, isn't that a laugh? Obviously I don't do our own place, I just get the address a bit wrong and do some plebs who probably have debts too. The client gets their money, so what's the problem?
'But, taking us to court will take ages and be very expensive, so they're better off just forgetting about it. Best just get more stuff on Amazon on the never-never, and carry on. Happy days!'
Image credit: stable diffusion