A woman has told how she was conned out of £20k by a "callous" romance fraudster - who convinced her he was sick and needed the money for private medical care.
Suzanne Famula met Christopher Harris, 41, a car salesman, on an online dating site in November 2020.
Harris, who has 16 previous convictions for more than 25 offences, including nine fraud-related cases, told Suzanne that he had long-term health problems and that he needed £400 to "go private" to receive "proper care".
After around two months of dating, the 39-year-old handed over £400 on the condition he pay her back once he got paid.
Suzanne Famula met Christopher Harris, 41, a car salesman, on an online dating site in November 2020.
Harris, who has 16 previous convictions for more than 25 offences, including nine fraud-related cases, told Suzanne that he had long-term health problems and that he needed £400 to "go private" to receive "proper care".
After around two months of dating, the 39-year-old handed over £400 on the condition he pay her back once he got paid.
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FunTranscript
00:00 Hi, my name's Suzanne Famula. I met a guy online and got conduct of just over £20,000.
00:07 We first met in December and then off and on for a few months and then got a bit more serious in May.
00:20 And then he just asked me money for mortgage, council tax, bills, hospital stays, going private.
00:30 And then I realised after a couple of months that it was all a lie.
00:36 I started the process of getting him done for it, which took... and it's still taking forever.
00:43 But he's been in prison and I have my money back.
00:46 It's a hard process and it's a long process, but it is worth doing because it gets your money back.
00:59 And I think if it makes the authorities and more people aware of the effect that it has on you as a person
01:08 and what it does to you, it also might make them act a bit quicker.
01:13 Because I think, what am I now, three years in and I haven't seen a penny from him.
01:20 It needs to be taken a bit more seriously because, I mean, at one point I was phoning Samaritans trying to get help.
01:35 I mean, they didn't answer. So I phoned victim support and luckily I had a really nice woman on the phone.
01:41 And then I got Catch 22 eventually, which have been brilliant throughout this whole thing.
01:47 I can't afford a solicitor or anything, so if I can do it that way, I know other people can.
01:58 And it's also getting the banks to realise that just because you meet them in person doesn't mean it's just theft.
02:05 It is fraud because they're lying about what they need the money for, like he did to me.
02:11 And they didn't take that into account at all.
02:16 And I had to take them to the financial ombudsman, which was 18 months of back and forth, back and forth.
02:23 Them putting words in my mouth and kind of lying.
02:28 And it's just, it's been a lot.
02:31 I mean, you always want to believe that someone's, if they say they're in hospital unwell, that they're telling the truth.
02:44 And I'd just lost someone really close to me. My dad was really poorly at the time.
02:49 So I suppose I was in a bit more vulnerable state than what I would have been if I hadn't have had that happen.
02:56 There were red flags. I think I just thought I was helping someone in need and trying to be a nice person to help someone out who I thought was really poorly.
03:09 And wasn't as poorly as they said they were.
03:12 I even showed my friends his profile. It was all very normal.
03:22 He said he had a normal job, operations manager at a dealership.
03:26 Like, to me, that's a normal run of the mill job. He didn't have that job.
03:32 I suppose I'd be a bit more judgy next time.
03:36 Like, I might question a bit more.
03:39 I suppose, yeah, just delve deeper into them as a person rather than almost taking their word for it.
03:46 If they say, oh, I work here, then you ask them where they work in a different way.
03:50 Or like, just kind of fact check, I suppose.
03:55 (sighs)