Woman lost £9k to scammers impersonating TV vet

Romance fraud is a growing crime and saw an estimated £106m lost by UK victims in the past financial year according to Action Fraud

A woman has said she lost £9,000 to scammers who she believed to be a TV vet who was chatting with her on social media.

Lisa, 44, from Staffordshire, who is autistic, said she was tricked over a period of two years by fraudsters who were impersonating Bondi Vet's Dr Chris Brown.

"He first approached me on Instagram, his profile had a blue tick by it to show it was verified," she said.

She added it was about a month before he started becoming more romantic.

Romance fraud is a growing crime and saw an estimated £106m lost by UK victims in the past financial year.

According to Action Fraud, it usually involves fraudsters creating fake online personas to gain someone's trust through the guise of a romantic relationship, with the ultimate goal of exploiting them for financial gain.

Lisa said she had not initially been interested in dating, but over a period of time the conversations began to develop into something which was more like a relationship.

She said she was on holiday in Spain when the scammer, impersonating the vet, messaged asking her to marry him.

They also messaged to say he had been taken ill in Africa while caring for animals and that he needed thousands of dollars for medical bills.

She told BBC Radio WM that she could not help as she did not have that much money, but he made her feel guilty.

"He kept asking me for money, said 'I love you' and we'd do small talk," she said.

'It's like being groomed'

She added he told her he could not live without her.

"Mentally it's scarred me because it makes me feel an idiot. I have no interest in relationships at all now, I can't trust anybody.

"Sometimes I have nightmares over it. It's like being groomed in a way."

"I didn't tell anyone, I had to keep it all to myself," Lisa said.

"My mum and dad were aware I was talking to him. They had their suspicions, because I had to give up a lot of my things that I was doing, basically, for two years while I was talking to him and sending him all this money."

At one point, she was handing over money intended for food and rent as well as giving up hobbies she enjoyed such as swimming and shopping.

However, she eventually began to notice things about the story she was being told that did not add up.

"For instance, not giving out your personal phone number, being asked for money for a plane ticket," she said.

"I'm thinking to myself 'well if you haven't got a personal number to contact on and you can't come from the bottom of your heart to come over to see someone because you want to be with them then that's a poor show'.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC's Action Line website.