Female probation officer and her partner admit conning men out of £200,000 in ... trends now
A female probation officer and her partner have admitted to conning men out of more than £200,000 in a series of romance frauds on Gaydar and Match.com - with one victim shelling out at least £100,000 over a staggering 14 years.
Racquel Johnston, 42, and Fredrick Diji, 37, changed their pleas to 'guilty' at Guildford Crown Court after hearing evidence against them.
Diji admitted conspiracy to defraud, concealing criminal property and possession of an identity document for improper means, while Johnston admitted a charge of concealing criminal property.
Before the change of plea, prosecutors had told the jury how the pair were able to steal Alan Baldwin's identity after messaging him on the dating websites and conned others using his name and his bank account.
The frauds, involving huge sums of money, began in 2005 and continued up until the pair were arrested on April 29, 2021.
Racquel Johnston (pictured front), 42, and Fredrick Diji, 37, were able to steal Alan Baldwin's identity after messaging him on the dating websites and conned others using his name and his bank account
Prosecutor Charlotte Hole told the jury that among the couple's gay victims were Alan Baldwin, Martin Duffield, Kevin Perkins, Paul Greenway and James King. Pictured: Racquel Johnston
They were also told how the couple knew they had to be careful because Johnston's probation officer role meant she was working with the police and the courts.
They brazenly cashed in on single men's use of gay websites and on one occasion, posing as a man called 'Fred Williams', said he had been kidnapped and needed one million pounds to be freed.
Prosecutor Charlotte Hole told the jury that among the couple's gay victims were Alan Baldwin, Martin Duffield, Kevin Perkins, Paul Greenway and James King.
Diji and Johnston, both from Lambeth, South London, sat beside each other in the dock as Ms Hole told how their scam worked, even detailing their own instructions to others on how to reel in victims.
Ms Hole said the pair's modus operandi was to ask for money to help them with cash needed to release a fake 'large inheritance' on the basis that it would be paid back later.
'These scams were all designed to manipulate the victims and ultimately extract large sums of money from them.
'It is the prosecution's case that Mr Diji and others were perpetuating fraud of this nature since 2005, beginning with a man named Alan Baldwin.'
Ms Hole said that Diji had been defrauding Mr Baldwin since the beginning of 2005 by pretending to be a romantic gay partner by the name of 'Fred Williams' after meeting on dating site Gaydar.
She told the jury: 'To start with, Alan Baldwin would send "Fred Williams" small sums of money to buy drinks. '
The court heard that eventually 'Fred Williams' told Mr Baldwin that his father had died and left him as the sole beneficiary of the estate.
Mr Baldwin told investigators later that he was led to believe the estate consisted of 'money in Sweden, Ireland and the UK' as well as 'houses in Manchester and the rest of the UK'.
The romance fraud story was told to a jury at Guildford Crown Court (above) on the first day of Johnston and Diji's trial for conspiracy to defraud, making or supplying articles for use in fraud and possession of articles for use in fraud
Ms Hole, in her opening speech to the jury, continued: 'There came a point where Mr Baldwin was sending £1,500 a month to Mr Williams. But that wasn't enough. He pressured Mr Baldwin to raise it to £2,000.'
The victim described the reason he was asked to send the funds as 'money to pay for the costs of probate and legal fees.'
'Over the lifetime of that fraud, Alan Baldwin paid over the amount of £100,000,' said the prosecutor.
In evidence to the jury, Mr Baldwin said: 'When eventually I had been told that the probate costs had been paid, another bill cropped up.
'At one point, I was told by "Fred" that he had been kidnapped by relatives and needed to sign over £1million in order to keep him safe.'
The court was told that this was the most lengthy known fraud in the case, lasting for around 14 years.
Continuing her opening speech, Ms Hole added: 'In the summer of 2019, a man called Paul Greenway signed up to the dating site Match.com and, after a while, Mr Greenway received a "like" on his website profile.
The man was named as 'Alan Baldwin' which Ms Hole said was really Diji and Johnston taking further advantage of Mr Baldwin by stealing his identity.
'The fake Alan Baldwin claimed he lived in
