A WOMAN who was conned into handing over more than £13,000 to a serial fraudster hopes sharing her experience will stop others falling into the same trap.

Vicky (not her real name) is a business owner with a teenage son and lives in the south of the county. She met Emmanuel Scotts on the dating website Ourtime. He claimed to be trader on the financial markets and recently divorced.

Scotts showered Vicky with attention and even came to her house and had sex with her before he started asking for money.

In reality, Scotts was married and Vicky was just one of several women he was exploiting.

In November 2022, Scotts, 55, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding four women out of more than £320,000 following an investigation by City of London Police. One victim lost £232,000.

Last year, 191 cases of romance fraud were reported across Essex, a 13% reduction on the previous year. Action Fraud reported an estimated £88 million was lost to romance fraudsters in the UK with £1.6 million of this from victims in this county.

Vicky is now a member of Essex Police's romance fraud support group run by the force's Protect and Prevent Fraud Officer David Gillies and Victim Support's Sara McParland.

"I hate him for what he's done," said Vicky. "I'd not had a significant other in my life for a very long time and I wanted to meet somebody. He came to my home and he knew I didn't live in luxury. All he was interested in was what he could get out of me.

"He's was his 50s, very smartly dressed – designer labels, designer watch – he was pristine. He said he was going help me with my business. He said he had a penthouse in Chelsea, a Range Rover and had made plenty of money from the stock market.

"He would phone me at night when he said he was trading on foreign stock markets. He told me he'd fallen head over heels in love with me.

"We'd go out together as a family for dinner. He was making promises about everything we'd do when lockdown was over. It was all carefully engineered to make me trust him."

Vickey shared her story on the BBC.

Scotts then began asking for money. He claimed he temporarily couldn't access his bank account and wanted £3,000 from Vicky to fund on opportunity on the Hong Kong stock market.

The requests and excuses continued until Scotts owed Vicky more than £13,000. She did get him to pay almost £3,000 back but alarm bells started to ring for Vicky when she jokingly told Scotts she'd reported him and he exploded with rage.

"I wish I had threatened to report him to the police as it would have jolted him into paying me back but it would have only been another woman's money," Vicky said. "In my heart of hearts, I knew I'd been scammed.

"I thought the only way for me to get my money back would be to pretend I still cared for him. He called me the week before he was arrested saying he really missed me, wanted to see me, make love to me. I told him no."

Vicky was unaware of Scotts' arrest but as he'd gone quiet, she googled his name.

"A story came up about him being arrested for fraud. It showed that him and his wife had been charged. I read that he was in prison. When I realised he'd scammed me, I hit rock bottom. I felt like I'd let my son down."

Vicky reported Scotts to Action Fraud and she was then contacted by City of London Police. Scotts even video called Vicky from prison using a smuggled phone to claim he'd been set up. He also asked her to set up a betting account for him. Vicky said she "completely lost it" with Scotts at this point.

Vicky gave evidence against Scotts at Kingston Crown Court and has become friends with the other women.

She said: "Defrauding people is a business to him. He set me up from day one. It's all pre-planned and carefully engineered. Every little step is managed. He's an evil, twisted man. I'd have loved the judge to make him work to pay us all back.

"I was ashamed, I felt disgusted with myself, I felt stupid, I thought I was a good judge of character. I don't want anyone else to suffer."

For more information on staying safe online visit: Stay alert when a stranger flirts | Essex Police