Cornish man lost £14k after falling victim to an online dating scam
Christian is urging others to know the signs and not to make the same mistakes
A man from Cornwall has revealed he lost £14,000 after falling victim to an online dating scam.
34-year-old Christian Murray from Hayle met a woman via Instagram.
'Stephanie' said she was a nursery teacher from France, they spent weeks messaging each other and things started to get more serious.
She then started to ask Christian for money, to pay for various bits and bobs.
Stephanie told him that her dad had died, and she needed help claiming her inheritance by travelling to Africa to sign documents.
That spiralled into paying for flights, hotels and apparently even to bail her out of prison.
"Our relationship at the start, we were messaging a lot, we were skyping each other, I was seeing her and she looked exactly like the person from her photos, so it makes you believe that everything is good."
Christian Murray
Eventually Christian's friend worked out all the documents were fake.
He confronted Stephanie and she tried to convince him that she was being scammed too.
By that point he had already lost £14,000 trying to help her out.
Christian now wants others to know the signs of online dating fraud - and to make sure no one else makes the same mistakes.
"When you're in that scenario, they get into your head, you think everything's fine and you will be together, that's all you think about, you want to help them out, they make you believe that they need your help.
"They act like a gang, it's not just one person sending you messages, there's a group of them and they all build on the story together to make you believe it more and more. I was having her so-called friends messaging me on WhatsApp saying 'help her, help her'.
"Still now it's really hard, and there's still a part of you that thinks they're real to this day, and that's how much they get into your head. I know she isn't real, I know it's a gang of scammers, but it's crazy how they do it and how much they mix with your emotions."
Christian Murray
Christian has appeared on the BBC programme 'For Love Or Money' to try and help raise awareness of online dating scams.
He fears more vulnerable people will be targeted due to lockdown and feeling isolated.
"You think with the lockdown happening, how many people are stuck inside, they're lonely, they haven't got anyone else so what are they going to do, they are going to go online and on dating sites and this is where these scammers start from.
"If I can just help one other person, I will feel like I've achieved something."
Christian Murray