I thought I'd met my dream man but he was a Tinder Swindler who conned me out of my life savings

‘Why don’t you just make a profile?’ my close friend suggested, as I opened up to her about how lonely I’d been feeling during lockdown.

After my divorce, I was in no rush to enter a new relationship, but with the world on hold due to the pandemic, and limited opportunities to meet new people I thought ‘why not?’

Glass of wine in hand, I started tapping away on my phone to set up a profile on the Facebook dating site to put myself out there.

After swiping aimlessly through lots of profiles, no one really took my fancy, until I came across a handsome stranger who stopped me in my tracks.

‘Michael Anderson’ had rugged good looks, salt and pepper hair and a warm smile.

‘Wow, he is absolutely gorgeous,’ I said to myself.

His profile said he was 51 and that he worked in engineering.

‘Anyone looking at that photograph would think he’s a model,’ my friend gasped when I showed her his profile.

‘A right silver fox,’ I giggled.

It wasn’t long before Michael sent me a message – asking me all about myself.

We struck up a conversation and got to know each other better.

‘We are so similar, it’s meant to be.’ he said, as we discovered we were both adopted, both had children, and even had the same birthday.

It felt too good to be true...

He told me he was director of a multi-global engineering company.

After Googling the company to find out more about it, I was impressed.

Michael worked a lot, but always made time to message me.

‘I want to meet someone that I can settle down with and buy a house with,’ he told me.

I felt like I’d met the man of my dreams. It was music to my ears.

‘Where are you from again?’ I asked him, thinking we could decide on a location that would be convenient for us to meet.

‘Birmingham,’ he replied, even though his Facebook profile said he was from Nottingham.

‘Aren’t you from Nottingham?’ I questioned.

‘Oh yeah, sorry. I’ve got a lot going on at the moment. I meant Nottingham,’ he replied.

I brushed it off as I didn’t want to question him further.

Every time we spoke, I found myself liking Michael more and more.

I really wanted to meet in person. He called me ‘his queen’ and complimented me all the time. He even said he loved me.

I could feel myself falling head over heels for him too.

‘When can we meet?’ I asked.

‘Soon, work is just so busy right now,’ he said.

I spontaneously decided to FaceTime him one evening and he answered, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to talk.

‘Is everything OK?’ I asked.

‘Yes, I’m fine, I just can’t talk right now,’ he said, dismissing me and cutting the call short.

I saw his face briefly, but all I could make out was that he was a white man wearing glasses.

‘We’re going to have this fabulous life, I really want to meet you soon,’ he assured me later.

Reassured, I looked forward to seeing him in the flesh as soon as we both had the time.

‘I’m having a crisis with one of my engineering projects in Cyprus,’ Michael texted me frantically one day.

‘I’m so sorry but I’ve had to go to Cyprus. Someone’s been killed on site and they’re demanding I go out there,’ he messaged me at 3am the next morning.

It continued to escalate as later in the day, he told me he was being held at a police station in Cyprus because the family of the person who’d been killed wanted compensation, but he didn’t have the money.

‘Can’t you just get money from your company?’ I asked him.

‘I don’t want to get them involved,’ he claimed. ‘I could lose my trading licence if I do. The family want £160,000.’

I couldn’t believe it.

‘I’ve found a lawyer who is willing to give me some money and I will try and raise the rest from my Bitcoin,’ he told me.

Having just come out of a 25-year marriage I was in a vulnerable situation.

Clinging on to my dream man, who was sweeping me off my feet, in the moment, I didn’t know any better.

‘Sunita, I’m going to give you my bank details and I want you to transfer £60,000 from my account into my lawyer’s account,’ he told me.

It was an offshore bank account, based in Los Angeles and it was showing he had £7 million in his account, which led me to believe he was very financially stable.

He asked me to do two transactions so there was £120,000 in the account.

The third payment of £40,000 was blocked by a security alert and he asked me to email the bank, claiming I was his fiancé and the transaction needed to go through.

The ‘bank’ emailed back, saying someone needed to go to the bank in person for the money to go through, and that’s when he decided to ask for my money.

‘You are my queen. I don’t like to ask and it’s entirely up to you, but I promise I will pay you back,’ he told me.

I felt I had to help him...

‘I can give you £9,000. That’s my life savings,’ I told him, and transferred it to his bank.

‘We are going to have an amazing life together. I can’t wait to see you when I’m back,’ he said, as he sent me a picture of his plane ticket back to the UK.

But then, his lawyer phoned me saying: ‘Michael’s been escorted off the aircraft and is being detained at the police station because he hasn’t paid any government taxes on his engineering equipment. He’s in a terrible state and he’s asking for your help.’

‘I can’t do anything,’ I exclaimed. All my life savings were gone. I had nothing left.

Distraught and overwhelmed, I told my close friend what had happened.

‘Sunita, you’ve been scammed, wake up! You don’t even know who he is, he could have killed you if you met,’ she said.

That’s when the penny dropped.

My stomach dropped and I started retching. I felt weak and nauseated.

This man had led me to believe we were going to start a life together. Live happily ever after.

But it was all a lie.

I was violently sick and was so low I even felt I could have taken my own life at one stage.

It was a horrible feeling. I phoned the police straight away, hoping they would be able to help.

Miraculously, they sent me an email stating how I could claim my money back. As I didn’t receive a warning text around the transaction I made, due to a scheme my bank has signed up to help victims of fraud, I was entitled to get my money back. But other people are not so fortunate.

Despite hoping to find the love of my life through the world of online dating, being swindled out of my life savings left my life in tatters.

I have not been completely put off finding love online, but I am definitely less trusting of people I meet in the future.

I have learnt so much, but unfortunately for me, I had to learn the hard way. Don’t just go off their photos. Do your research and make sure you get to meet them in the flesh before making any decisions.