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Irish con man in Spain outed by sharp eyed expat pensioner
| Published: | 15 Oct at 6 PM |
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An Irish conman who preyed on wealthy widows and pensioners has been outed on the Costa del Sol by a sharp-eyed 71-year old who’d met up with him via an online dating site.
60-year old Sean Whelan’s seductive online and offline charms had already cost a Florida woman her life savings of around £70,000 after they’d met on another dating site in 2007. The slick fraudster flew to Florida, proposed marriage, then offered to invest her savings in a Mauritius bank but fled back to Dublin with the cash.
Presumable down to his last few dollars and seeking a refill, Whelan arrived recently in the Costa del Sol and immediately joined local dating site collectingsingles.es. His profile under the username Tullyview described him as a ‘sensitive, caring, widowed businessman with a Masters’ degree looking for a confident, intelligent, kind lady.
Unfortunately for the ageing Lothario, one lady with whom he had shared a cosy lunch but who had not quite fallen for his charms recognised him and rushed to warn other female expats against falling for his line. She had replied to him on the dating site, and had lunched with him at a well-known Nueva Andalusia hotel.
Smartly dressed and driving an Audi, he seemed like the perfect gentleman, but when the 71 year-old former Leeds resident decided to check him out online, she couldn’t believe what she found – his history and USA court conviction as a love-rat scammer. Furious that she might have fallen for his script, she decided to out the fraudster by contacting the local English language newspaper.
When contacted by a reporter from the paper, Whelan denied he’d ever heard of the Spanish dating site and hadn’t met any women since his arrival on the Costa del Sol. However, he did admit to the Florida fraud, saying that it took place a long time in the past.
60-year old Sean Whelan’s seductive online and offline charms had already cost a Florida woman her life savings of around £70,000 after they’d met on another dating site in 2007. The slick fraudster flew to Florida, proposed marriage, then offered to invest her savings in a Mauritius bank but fled back to Dublin with the cash.
Presumable down to his last few dollars and seeking a refill, Whelan arrived recently in the Costa del Sol and immediately joined local dating site collectingsingles.es. His profile under the username Tullyview described him as a ‘sensitive, caring, widowed businessman with a Masters’ degree looking for a confident, intelligent, kind lady.
Unfortunately for the ageing Lothario, one lady with whom he had shared a cosy lunch but who had not quite fallen for his charms recognised him and rushed to warn other female expats against falling for his line. She had replied to him on the dating site, and had lunched with him at a well-known Nueva Andalusia hotel.
Smartly dressed and driving an Audi, he seemed like the perfect gentleman, but when the 71 year-old former Leeds resident decided to check him out online, she couldn’t believe what she found – his history and USA court conviction as a love-rat scammer. Furious that she might have fallen for his script, she decided to out the fraudster by contacting the local English language newspaper.
When contacted by a reporter from the paper, Whelan denied he’d ever heard of the Spanish dating site and hadn’t met any women since his arrival on the Costa del Sol. However, he did admit to the Florida fraud, saying that it took place a long time in the past.
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