A conman who swindled more than £120,000 from a woman after posing as a covert army officer has been jailed.

Over the course of a year, between 2022 and 2023, the victim transferred thousands of pounds 16 times after meeting the man online.

The woman, from Medway, signed up to a website to meet new people when she started chatting to Maxwell Rusey, who was posing as an officer involved in “covert operations” in Mali.

The two messaged back and forth with the man expressing he would wish to live with her upon his return to the UK.

He said he also had a sizeable amount of gold he would need to import back and asked if she could help pay the relevant duties.

She agreed and paid £128,000 into accounts the fraudster claimed belonged to a colleague.

Detectives later found they were set up by Rusey, formerly of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, and in March 2024 he was arrested and later charged with fraud and money laundering offences after a fake passport used to open the accounts was found in his possession.

The 53-year-old admitted to the charges at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, September 23, and was sentenced to five years behind bars.

Detective constable Mark Newman said: “Romance fraud is a particularly cruel offence which causes serious emotional harm for victims, as well as the financial impact it entails.

“Many victims struggle to report offences due to the level of deception used by fraudsters and I would like to praise the victim in this case for coming forward and supporting this prosecution.

“I am pleased that the court has recognised the seriousness of the offence in the sentence handed down and I hope it sends a message to other offenders that jail awaits them.”