Five money launderers have been jailed for exploiting victims via a large scale romance fraud scam, cheating 40 victims out of £2.37m.

Losses averaged £81,250 per victim and some victims were left penniless.

There were 40 confirmed victims of the five scam artists, but authorities suspect that they may have conned as many as 99 people.

Romance fraud involves crooks striking up bogus relationships, usually online, with vulnerable victims.

The victims are persuaded to hand over money to the fraudsters who they falsely believe they are involved with romantically.

Fawaz Ali, Ebenezer Tackie, and Michael Quartey, were found guilty of money laundering offences after trial and sentenced to four years and 10 months imprisonment, 4 years and six months imprisonment, and five years and six months imprisonment respectively at Guildford Crown Court.

Kwabena Edusei, who had previously admitted conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, supplying articles for use in fraud and possession of ID documents with an improper intention was sentenced to seven years and 10 months imprisonment.

George Melseaux, who admitted money laundering and possession of ID documents with an improper intention was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment.

The court heard that as part of the fraud, the scammers created fake profiles and fictional biographies on dating websites to trick their victims.

The criminals used “flirtatious language” to manipulate people into thinking they were entering into a genuine relationship. However this was just a cover for the fraudsters to ask victims for money for fake reasons.

The bogus reasons for asking for money included loans to pay for business trips gone wrong, fines being incurred in remote locations and urgently needing money to pay these off, or a stolen wallet.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the victims transferred money to the bank accounts of the defendants or even sent cash in the post.

The fraud was repeated many times until the victims had no money left of stopped making payments.

Payments were then laundered through the bank accounts of the criminals.

Jane Mitchell of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “We want to encourage all those who think they’ve been a victim of romance fraud not to feel embarrassed or ashamed, instead please report it.

“A fraud like this only succeeds if there is a willing network to launder this criminal money through their bank accounts.

“We hope these sentences offer some comfort to the multiple victims in this case.