Police have arrested five people, four Nigerian men and one Maltese woman, on suspicion of scamming an elderly Maltese woman out of thousands of euro by posing as an American soldier online. 

In a statement, the police said the woman had entered into an online relationship with someone she believed to be an American soldier who was stationed in Afghanistan and who was planning to move to Malta after completing his mission.  

Although they never met face to face, the alleged victim took this relationship seriously and paid her ‘lover’ thousands of euro after he asked her to. 

Police investigations found that this was a case of ‘romance fraud’ committed by people living in Malta, who laundered the money they received from the elderly woman in small amounts to a number of bank accounts. 

The five suspects were arrested today following a joint investigation by the financial crimes police and the Paola district police. 

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