'A conman stole my money and bought his wife a 10-carat diamond ring'

A woman from New York has told the BBC she lost almost a million dollars to a scammer from Northern Ireland - and says he bought his wife a dazzling 10-carat diamond ring with the proceeds.

The woman, who we are calling Jane because she fears being targeted again, has identified the perpetrator as a member of The Travelling Conmen.

They are a group of UK and Irish nationals involved in construction scams who have been designated by the FBI as a transnational organised crime group.

Jane and other victims of the gang have spoken to BBC Spotlight about their ordeal, including a man who lost $500,000 (£370,971) last year and a woman who lost her son's university fund.

"It's not only humiliating and devastating and shattering – it also just crushes your soul," Jane said.

She said her ordeal began in the autumn of 2022 when she was approached at her New York home and asked if she needed any work done.

She said a man with an Irish accent, who the BBC understands to be called Darren Cunningham (then going under the name Patrick Dundon) began doing more work than was agreed.

The man said he needed $65,000 (£48,229) for bricks, then disappeared.

Jane says she then contacted the brick seller who gave her an invoice showing the bricks had cost only $25,000 (£18,550).

But it was a few months later when the scam really escalated.

A man Spotlight traced back to Northern Ireland through photos provided by Jane, turned up at her door.

He can't be named for legal reasons so we are calling him Mr Bling.

"He said the work on the driveway will get done, but everything's on hold because there's still this big issue that they have to take care of," Jane said.

"He seemed like he was trying to be the responsible business partner."

But nothing could have been further from the truth because the con continued.

Jane said he told her he needed $200,000 (£148,391) as a loan.

She also alleged he warned her children's safety might be in danger if she did not hand over the cash.

Jane wrote three cheques with the promise that the money would be back with her by the following Sunday - but it was not returned.

In an attempt to get back what she had lost, Jane said she committed further funds.

"He told me that I had to transfer the money to the parent construction company, Troy Construction.

"Only last minute did he make the switch and say it's actually going to be another company that's like a front for Troy Construction and then he sent me the information of where I am supposed to send the money to."

In fact, she sent the money to a jeweller on 47th Street in New York, the heart of what is known as the Diamond District.

From Spotlight's investigation, it appears that within days Mr Bling's family were showing off expensive jewellery on social media, including the 10-carat diamond.

"Lots of other jewellery, lots of watches that they all seemed so happy to flaunt," Jane said.

The BBC wrote to Darren Cunningham and the man it is calling Mr Bling about Jane's allegations, but they did not respond.

The BBC Spotlight programme, The Travelling Conmen, reveals that other victims were also told to send hundreds of thousands of dollars to jewellers in the Diamond District.

Some of the Travelling Conmen are now in prison, including an Irish national James Dinnigan, who defrauded victims of $1m (£741,840) in a series of construction scams.

One of his victims was Ginia Hines who was gradually persuaded to hand over $50,000 (£37,798) for work at her home in Connecticut to a man she knew as 'Charlie Ward'.

Ward was actually James Dinnigan and Hines believes that he initially built rapport with her by pretending to be a Christian.

He would say things such as: "How's your day going? Are you having a blessed day? And then the conversations ended with have a blessed day, God bless you."

But after 10 days' work at $5000 (£3,708) a day, Dinnigan left the house in worse shape.

"They left my yard just a mud pile with all the boulders and rocks that they dug up from around the house," Hines said.

"It had no value because they did something I didn't need. It was no value – it was actually a negative."

Hines told BBC Spotlight that the money she lost could have been used to help her son through college.

"(The money) was very important. Single parent, head of household, doing this thing on my own," she said.

In this instance the perpetrator was jailed but Hines did not get her money back.

Michael Berard, from Swansea in Massachusetts, said he was defrauded of $500,000 (£370,971) by two men, who called themselves Jack Murphy and George Adams, who have since vanished.

"These people took the money just as though they were John Dillinger or Billy the Kid," he said.

"And they're actually worse, cause when a guy points a gun at you, you know what you're up against."

After employing the pair for a small job, Berard said they told him he had a crack in his foundation.

"My whole adult life I've had struggles with anxiety, kind of walking the tightrope. At that point I think they sensed my anxiety and they said: 'Mike, you've got a very big problem here. We need $15,000 (£11,124) right away'."

And that was just the beginning. With Adams and Murphy convincing Berard that he would get his money back by suing the original builder of the house, he gradually handed over everything he had for needless work.

"They were like magicians. They were like Houdini and Copperfield and Blaine all rolled into one," he said.

"What they said sounded so convincing."

Berard has been unable to track down the two men.

BBC Spotlight also tried to find them, but could not reach them to ask about his allegations.

As well as Dinnigan, other members of the Travelling Conmen are now in custody, including Elijah Gavin who was jailed in November.

But FBI Special Agent, Ethan Via, has told BBC Spotlight there were more of them out there, both in the United States and elsewhere.

"Barely a month goes by that I don't get a phone call from someone and they have a new group that's doing it or a new batch of victims," he said.

Jane from New York told BBC Spotlight she was still working through what happened.

"I can't say I had any control over any of my actions at that period in my life.

"And literally if someone asked me 'why did you hand over the money?' I just, I don't know. I don't know."