A GRIEVING widow has claimed she has been conned by almost £500,000 by alleged romance fraudsters.

Anne Larkin, 55, unexpectedly lost her husband Graham, aged 54, to liver and kidney failure in November 2019.

Shortly after, the grandma-of-six received a hefty payout from a death-in-service policy.

The former Special Constable, who is from Bradford but now lives in Hornsea, was able to buy herself a new home before she claims the alleged criminals targeted her on social media.

Anne claims the conmen tricked her into sending almost £500,000.

She said: “Graham, who worked in healthcare for the British Standards Institution, was my best friend. We used to walk to school together and we were together for 36 years.

“Losing him was so hard but I had to put on a brave face - I didn’t want to be a burden.

“I was approached by a man called Clinton James on View Bug which is an app for photographers - he complimented a photo I’d taken. He was caucasian with mousy brown hair and a moustache.We spoke about photography but the chit chat continued for several days before moving to Google hangouts.

“Clinton told me he was a military doctor based in Yemen and had lost his wife and daughter in a car crash.

“We bonded over our losses and I felt like he understood the pain I was going through.

“He became my virtual shoulder to cry on.”

After a few weeks of speaking in January 2020, Anne claims the man started asking for money so he can move back to America to be with his son.

Anne says she sympathised with him and agreed to loan him £1000.

The sum rapidly increased and Anne claims she sent up to £30,000 at one time.

During this time, she claims were approached by another man on Facebook who sparked up a conversation about photography.

She added: “I wasn’t in the correct frame of mind which made me an easy victim to be manipulated.

“The second scammer seemed charitable - he asked me to help fund his project which involved building houses for homeless people.

“I sympathised with each of the men and they both said they would pay me back.

“I haven’t got any friends and barely any family which is why it was so easy for them to do what they did to me.

“They listened to me when I was grieving for Graham.

“Clinton and I were speaking for almost a year - he wanted to meet up and a relationship.

“But it wasn’t romantic for me - I just wanted someone to talk to as I was lost without Graham.

“In November, I told Clinton to stop speaking to me as he was speaking about smuggling diamonds into the UK.

“I didn’t want to get involved.”

In January 2020, Anne’s funds were running low as she says she had sent almost £500,000 to the scammers.

She claims to have told the scammer that she will not be funding the homeless project anymore and he allegedly asked her to ‘sell her home or car’.

She said: “I then realised it was all a lie and scam. I couldn’t believe I fell for it.

“I feel heartbroken and ashamed.”

Anne instantly contacted the fraud team at her bank and Humberside police are currently investigating the case.

She said: “I hit a very black hole when I realised I’ve been scammed. I am still trying to climb back out of it.

"I feel like my whole life has been ripped away. The police think it is a group that is working together. It is the cruellest form of fraud as they targeted me knowing I was grieving.

"I hope my story helps other people spot the signs before it is too late.This can happen to anyone - it doesn’t matter what frame of mind you are in as the con artists know what to say.”

A spokesperson from Humberside Police said: “Our investigation is currently ongoing after we received reports that a 55-year-old woman had become a victim of fraud.”