Feltham man warns of lonely hearts scammers

Feb 14 2011 By Jessica Thompson

A FELTHAM man who fell in love with a 'model' on the internet and sent her money is warning other lonely hearts to avoid similar scams.

Jamie Stacey, 38, of Fern Grove, started talking to 'Cynthia' after they met on a social networking site a year ago.

Now, with Valentines Day in full swing, he has decided to cut all contact after realising the '27-year-old model' could be anyone conning him for cash.

The resident said: "Alarm bells were ringing as soon as she started asking me for money, but I guess I was still holding onto the hope that she could be real. I really fell for her.

"It wasn't until I heard about a woman on This Morning recently who got scammed by a gang posing as a solider that I suddenly realised. It was like being bashed over the head."

Mr Stacey swapped email addresses with the girl after meeting her on tagged.com.

They have been talking for a year, and Cynthia told him she normally lives in Tottenham, London, but travels to the Netherlands for modelling jobs.

She started asking him for money to cover her travel costs, eventually telling him she was very ill abroad and would die if he did not send her hundreds of pounds.

Mr Stacey even went to Tottenham to visit her when she told him she was back in the UK, but the address turned out to be fake. Cynthia even went as far as setting up a profile on Facebook to trick him, as well as sending several pictures which were all of the same person.

Luckily he only sent her £30 in total, but he said she could have conned him out of more than £500.

He told The Chronicle: "I turned to the internet in the hope of finding someone, I divorced ten years ago. I am really disappointed but I'm glad I realised now. I would say to anyone looking to find someone on-line, be very careful.

"A lot of people out there are manipulative and devious. There is a chance you will be taken for a ride, especially if you are looking for love and you are vulnerable".

Mr Stacey said it was the case of Kate Roberts, who took out loans and credit cards to give £80,000 to a 'soldier' she met online, that shocked him into thinking again. Her handsome match turned out to be a sophisticated Nigerian gang set up to exploit people online.

Mr Stacey said: "I'm going to stop talking to her, but I will be sending her the link to this article first".

What do you think? Let us know by email at jessicathompson@trinitysouth.co.uk