The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has confiscated a property in Co Cork that was bought with the proceeds of a romance fraud involving a €260,000 loss. The house at 1 Coast Guard Cottages, Strand Street, Youghal, was seized by CAB on Thursday of this week. The confiscation followed a High Court application under the Proceeds of Crime legislation. The court named a respondent linked to the property purchase. CAB said it began an investigation in 2022 after a referral from Gardaí in Kerry into serious romance fraud and money laundering offences connected to a Kerry-based organised crime group. CAB later identified the Youghal property, acquired in July 2015, as being purchased using the proceeds of that criminal conduct. A January judgment found, on the balance of probabilities, that the funds used for the purchase came from the romance fraud carried out by the brother-in-law of the respondent. The judge also considered a separate Australian court conviction against the respondent for a fraud involving an elderly woman worth AUD$100,500, about €58,000. CAB had sought an order declaring the house to be the proceeds of crime. The judge granted the relief sought by the bureau, saying most of the payments for the property came from unknown sources or represented the proceeds of crime. CAB has now taken possession of the property, ending the process that began with the investigation following the Garda referral.