A woman paid thousands to a private investigator to help recover money she lost in a dating scam – only to get scammed again.

The woman lost nearly £40,000 to a romance fraudster who encouraged her to invest the money in cryptocurrency and promised guaranteed profits.

After realising that she had been scammed, the woman paid a further £4,420 to a private investigation company to help recover the funds.

However, Ricky Gill, the man behind the scheme, spent the money going on holiday in America while giving his victim fake updates.

Gill, 40, told the Worthing woman that his “Secret Service Investigations” company had 120 years’ experience and was made of up of ex-police, military and intelligence personnel.

In truth, Gill’s company had no staff at all.

Rather than having multiple offices across the world as he claimed, Gill worked from his London garden and instead of being a police officer for over 17 years he had been a police analyst for less than half that time.

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After being hired in May, 2022, he spent the money on a holiday with a friend in the USA where he was “pursuing” the case. Gill visited a police station and approached a security company to work with him but they refused and he never filed a crime report.

After also forging his travel receipts to claim more money from his victim, the woman’s bank account was frozen due to the large amounts she tried to transfer.

Following investigations by Sussex Police, Gill was arrested, charged with fraud and eventually admitted his crime.

Daniel Sykes of the Sussex and Surrey Cyber Crime Unit said: “Gill preyed on a vulnerable person who was seeking help. He took advantage of her trust and repeatedly falsified information for his own gain.

“Fraud is a cruel crime that leaves a devastating impact, both financially and emotionally. We take reports of fraud very seriously and by securing this conviction, have removed another conman from our streets.”

Gill was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay back £4,430, as well as £500 in costs.

He was also given a restraining order against his victim.