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News editor goes undercover as OAP in bid to help Russian model expose scammer

Ed McConnellA news editor went undercover as a pensioner to help a Russian model whose photographs are being used by so-called “romance scammers”.

Kent Online newsdesk boss Ed McConnell launched an investigation into the issue after receiving a “fairly flat” police press release earlier this year raising awareness about online romance fraud.

The release inspired Ed, pictured, to respond to emails in his junk folder purporting to be women looking for love.

He was able to correspond with multiple scammers despite opting to pose as a 75-year-old with the name ‘Henry Hoover’ and using an image of actor Malcolm Hebden, best known as Coronation Street’s Norris Cole, for his own fake profile.

One of those Ed communicated with claimed to be a 33-year-old optician from Kyiv called Monica.

Another called herself ‘Irina Love’ and said she was a 31-year-old “lonely lady” from Russia, but a search of her photos’ metadata revealed they were actually of a Russian Instagram model called Avrora Shreder.

Ms Shreder told Ed the practice was “disgusting” after he alerted her to the scam being operated using her face.

He later revealed his true identity to ‘Irina’ after she harassed him for $425, purported to be for flight tickets from Moscow to Stansted, but was unable to track her down despite enlisting the help of experts at anti-scam organisation Rogue Daters.

Discussing his investigation, Ed told HTFP: “It came about thanks to a press release from Kent Police raising awareness about romance fraud.

“As with many of these press releases it was fairly flat. The one case study was quite weak and anonymous.

“I think for that reason many of them slip through the cracks and are dismissed as being too dull or are run and don’t make much. There seemed to be more of a story there so we went in search of it.

“I went in not knowing what to expect and as a result I don’t think I’ve ever missed a deadline so spectacularly. I was pretty happy with the end result although it’s frustrating we couldn’t unmask the fraudsters – Irina is still emailing me protesting her innocence.”