A man allegedly involved in a high-profile Tinder “swindler” scam is wanted by police in relation to more than $42 million in “suspicious transactions,” the Herald on Sunday can reveal.
The man, who police have now revealed is 35, has left New Zealand with the Serious Fraud Office and Interpol potentially getting involved in the case.
The Herald on Sunday has previously reported that he had netted more than $1m from Kiwi women and had left the country.
One of the victims, Kiwi woman Joanne (not her real name) lost more than $540,000 after connecting with a man on Tinder in July 2021.
The man called himself Dale Plumides on his profile, which used a photo of a suited and smiling silver-haired man. It was later revealed the photo was actually of a real estate agent in Dallas named Mark Cain with no connection to the case.
Police investigated the case and found her money had gone into the bank account of another woman who lived in New Zealand.
Now, a case summary report of Joanne’s complaint to police, obtained by the Herald on Sunday reveals that woman was a “mule” with the money being forwarded on to a cryptocurrency trader.
The woman was also a victim in a romance scam where a man, who is not named in the documents, was the “benefactor”.
Auckland’s CIB Fraud team spoke to the woman, who said she met a man on Elite Singles, and they struck up a friendship.
Their conversations started through text messages, and then talking on the phone. The man had an accent, but she was not sure where from.
He then asked to talk on WhatsApp so their messaging was free. He eventually told her he needed to go to Dubai to dissolve his grandfather’s $50m trust fund.
“Once in Dubai he began messaging asking her for money that will enable him to unlock the fund. He promised her $5,000,000 once he had resolved his issues,” the report said.
He then told her to contact a cryptocurrency trader, whose name is redacted, and purchase cryptocurrency through him and he could access the money.
Police asked the woman about money going into her account from other victims around the country.
“She said that [redacted] had told her that the money was coming from the trust fund, and she was to send that money to him.”
The woman said she sent the man over $600,000 of her own money and had borrowed about $75,000 from friends and family to send to him, in addition to the money that had gone into her account from other victims.
The woman was warned by police in October last year that if she continued she would be arrested for money laundering.
In March this year, another entry was made into the file for Joanne’s complaint which said the file was linked to “multiple other incidents involving the same fraud”.
It said the man “is an Financial Intelligence Unit target with over $42 million in suspicious transactions linked to him currently”.
“The ability now for Serious Fraud and Interpol to be engaged is now likely.”
Joanne - who is now in major debt and suffering panic attacks - told the Herald on Sunday she was “dumbfounded and angry” when she read the report.
“They knew of him, the police knew of what he was doing... and yet somehow this guy has left the country with all of this money. I can’t get a name to be able to hire a private investigator to track him down to be able to sue him.”
Despite not having a name, she was adamant she was going to find him.
“I’m going to track down this guy come hell or high water and sue him to get my money back even if it kills me.
“I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but somehow I’m going to get this a******** name and I’m going to track him down if it’s the last thing I do.”
A police spokesperson said they were unable to make any comment regarding the suspicious transactions or the identity of the man under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing of Terrorism Act.
“The financial intelligence that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) collects include suspicious activity reports, all international funds transfers (over $1000), all large cash transaction reports (over $10,000), all border cash reports, and information provided to us by our international partners.
“Regarding the specifics of follow-up enquiries in this case, we are limited in further comment as there are still active investigations that remain ongoing at present.”
A spokesperson for the Serious Fraud Office said they did not generally confirm or deny information about complaints or investigations, including whether it has received a complaint about a person or organisation or whether an investigation is underway.
“This is to protect the maintenance of the law and the right to a fair trial.”
Joanne, aged in her 50s, swiped right on the man calling himself Dale Plumides on his profile. He said he was a 58-year-old from Auckland, and the following day he messaged her. The two spoke regularly for a couple of weeks before he sent her his email address.
Plumides told her he was an independent engineer/contractor who was in Dubai working on a bridge. He claimed he would be back in the country in several weeks. He also sent a news video about the bridge that showed a photo of Dallas-based Cain (who Plumides was purporting to be). It would later be revealed that the woman presenting the so-called news was a hired actor from the UK who was told the videos would be used to help people learn English.
“I just want to spend the rest of my life enjoying the fruit of my labour,” Plumides told Joanne in an email. “I want a woman who would be my best friend and partner in everything. I’m talking about a relationship where we would continue to love each other more, as the days pass by, till we can’t make love anymore and all we do is play bingo LOL.”
He also referred to Joanne as “my ballerina lady”.
The pair spoke regularly on the phone, but Plumides, who had an American accent, said he was unable to use Skype in Dubai.
About a month after they first started talking, Plumides said there had been an accident at the worksite that resulted in several workers being injured. He asked if she would pay some money to help the staff. She sold some jewellery and agreed to send $1000.
Several weeks later, he asked Joanne to log in to his bank account, via a link he sent, to check the $9.2 million he was supposed to get paid for the bridge work had cleared. If it had, he wanted her to transfer the money to one of his colleagues.
When Joanne - who initially said she did not want to log in to the account - did as she was asked, it said the account was frozen due to unpaid taxes.
Plumides then asked her to help by sending money for the unpaid taxes. He promised once it was cleared she would get her money back.
Joanne first got an overdraft for $22,000 to help, before she later sold her house and agreed to send another $228,000 to cover further tax issues.
A month later, Plumides said he was still unable to get his money. This time he needed $290,000. Joanne, who hoped paying the extra money would mean she got her money back, agreed.
“This has to work darling”, Joanne said.
“So please please make sure this is it before paying as we will lose our house otherwise.”
He replied “don’t worry baby”.
“I’m 100 per cent positive this time around… We’re good to go love, I’m sure about this,” he said.
He finished the email by calling himself “your prince charming”.
Plumides eventually stopped contacting her after he claimed his son died. Joanne then contacted a private investigator as well as the police in April last year.
Joanne earlier said she was submitting a complaint about the investigation to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
The time since she lost her money had been “horrific”.
“My health is worse, my mental health is terrible. I have had a breakdown. I just cry and can not stop. I struggle to leave my house without having terrible panic attacks.
“I am in terrible debt, which means I only sleep three or four hours tops a night as I am up pacing due to stress most of the night.”
She has not told any family or friends, and worries about what will happen when they find out her money is missing.
She has had to take a job out of town for more money, requiring a lengthy commute.
Cain, whose identity was used as part of the elaborate scam, earlier told the Herald on Sunday it was “upsetting” to learn that he and other people’s images were being used without their knowledge or permission.
“It’s even more upsetting to learn that those images are used in tandem with a fake identity for the purpose of taking advantage of people, especially women, preying on them and appealing to their compassionate personalities to extract money from them,” he claimed.
“It is sad to know we live in a world where people, for a living or just for sport, take advantage of others with no regard for those they hurt,” he claimed.
Police are appealing for more information.