Face of Nuneaton Casanova conman who told woman he was covert ops army officer to get £128k

Maxwell Rusey from Nuneaton preyed on the woman and said he was a covert army officer
-Credit: (Image: Kent Police)


A Nuneaton 'casanova' conned a woman out of thousands of pounds after telling her he was a covert army officer. Cruel Maxwell Rusey preyed on the woman, who had joined a website to meet new people.

The 53-year-old told his victim he was an army officer involved in 'covert operations' in Mali. Following further messages between the two, Rusey said he wanted to live with the victim when he returned to the UK.

But he said he had a consignment of gold which he needed to import back to the UK and asked if she could help his friend pay the duties and taxes. The woman agreed and sent £128,500 in 16 separate transactions between 2022 and 2023 to accounts Rusey said belonged to his colleague.

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But the romance fraudster was rumbled when realised that she could be a fraud victim and contacted Kent police. Detectives then found the conman had set-up the bank accounts.

He was arrested back in March and later charged with fraud and money laundering offences after a fake passport used to set up one of the accounts was found in his possession. He admitted money laundering and possession of articles for use in fraud before Woolwich Crown Court and was jailed for five years on Monday (September 23).

'Cruel offence'

Speaking after the court case, Detective Constable Mark Newman, of Kent Police, said "Romance fraud is a particularly cruel offence which causes serious emotional harm for victims, as well as the financial impact it entails," he said.


"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."

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