Ex-romance scammer tells how he conned dozens of women to fund ‘lavish’ lifestyle – and what tricks to look out for
Hiding behind the picture of a handsome American soldier stolen from a real Instagram account, Chris Maxwell would try to make women fall in love with him online.
The 25-year-old Nigerian says he conned up to 30 victims out of more than $70,000 (£56,000) over five years, enjoying “lavish” spending on nights out in clubs and designer clothes.
“When I was doing this, I used to think about people – I used to feel guilty,” he tells Sky News.
“I used to feel bad but as time goes on and I started making good money – big money – I stopped feeling bad.”
Reports of romance fraud are on the rise in the UK, with victims conned out of more than £88m last year, according to latest figures.
Chris says he became a scammer while he was a student aged 17 and would approach strangers in the US, UK, Canada and Germany on social media.
Chris says he became a romance scammer aged 17. Pic: Chris Maxwell
“I start on common ground – I make sure they like me,” he says.
“I make sure they trust me so much and tell me anything – they can trust me, they can confide in me.
“After that, I start going in a relationship with them and that’s how I start my scam.”
One American woman – who he contacted online and spoke to for a year – handed over more than $30,000 (£24,000), says Chris.
“After she gave me the money, she became sick,” he says.
“She became depressed and wanted to see who I actually am.
“I did something really, really bad. I started felling guilty because she’s sick.
“I showed her my face, she cried but she forgave me.”
Romance scammer guide leaked
Chris says he was arrested in Nigeria but never charged over his romance scams – and knows of others who have “served time”.
None of the money was returned to his victims but he insists he’s now “living a good life” after the American woman introduced him to Social Catfish, a company which helps identify fraudsters by verifying online identities through reverse search technology. Chris now works as a consultant for the firm.
Since turning his back on a life of crime, he says he has leaked a 40-page step-by-step guide entitled How to Make a White Woman Fall in Love With You from Online Chat that is used by scammers.
The manual includes tips on carrying out romance scams, says Chris. Pic: Social Catfish
The handbook – which advises scammers to target women over the age of 40 – details how to carry out research from their social media profiles, suggesting finding out about “her hobbies, her pets, job, passion, if she has kids, age, where she lives, what she loves etc”.
Would-be fraudsters are told to make an approach using the information gathered or pick from “a list of 100 pickup lines that work every time”, including: “Life without you would be like a broken pencil… pointless”.
There are tips for carrying out a conversation, such as using a grammar app to avoid mistakes, a series of questions to ask and even “100 of the best jokes that will get her cracking her ribs” as “getting a woman to laugh is one of the fastest ways to make her like you”.
The guide recommends compliments, and again there is a list of suggestions, and tells scammers to wait at least a week before asking for money, which should not be done “directly”.
“When she asks about your day you can tell her it was bad,” the guide says.
“Then tell her you are broke, you are behind your mortgage and they will kick you out next week and you have exhausted every means to get money. By herself, she will offer to give you money.”
Romance scam reports increased by more than a fifth (22%) last year compared with 2022, according to data from Lloyds Bank, which said the average amount lost by a victim was nearly £7,000.
Victims aged 65 to 74 tended to lose more money on average, with the figure at more than £13,000, Lloyds said.
Detective Constable Rebecca Mason, from Surrey Police, says people who write they are “widowed, divorced or lonely” in online profiles can be seen as a target but “anyone can be a victim of romance scams” – and often gay males are disproportionately targeted.
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Victims are more likely to be male, while the highest number of people scammed in the UK last year were aged in their 20s, according to figures released by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.
There were more than 8,600 reports of romance scams in the UK last year – including 11 victims who were under the age of 10 and 12 victims aged 90 or over, the data shows.
Romance scammers using AI
DC Mason says fraudsters look to exploit the surge in the use of dating apps in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.
She warns that AI technology is enabling fraudsters to create a whole new identity and image.
“They can video call using this AI technology which can make them seem real,” she tells Sky News.
Pic: iStock
“People are now becoming more confident to speak up and report it to Action Fraud or the police. However, it is still a very under-reported crime.
“The change has come with online dating being a lot more accepted than it perhaps once was a few years ago.”
Wayne Stevens, national fraud lead at the charity Victim Support, says romance fraud is “very common” and people can be more vulnerable to the “devastating crime” as they search for friendship or romance online around Valentine’s Day.
“There’s a common misconception that romance fraud – and fraud in general – only affects older people,” he adds.
“In reality, fraudsters are highly skilled opportunists who will exploit people when they are at their lowest and craving companionship, making it easy for anyone to become a victim.”
Just 36 aid trucks entered Gaza on Saturday – despite the humanitarian situation in the enclave worsening, Palestinian officials have warned.
According to the Gazan government’s media office, most of the humanitarian supplies were looted and stolen – “as a result of the state of security chaos that the Israeli occupation systematically and deliberately perpetuates”.
Officials say at least 600 truckloads of aid are required on a daily basis, adding: “The needs of the population are worsening.”
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Gaza nurse: ‘We’re rationing care’
A statement released late last night called for “the immediate opening of crossings, and the entry of aid and infant formula in sufficient quantities” – and “condemned in the strongest terms the continuation of the crime of starvation”.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refuted this – and accused Hamas of “stirring up a slanderous propaganda campaign against Israel”.
He said: “The cruelty of Hamas has no boundaries. While the State of Israel is allowing the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, the terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving our hostages and document them in a cynical and evil manner.
“The terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving the residents of the Strip as well, preventing them from receiving the aid.”
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Aid drops continue over Gaza
It comes as the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza said its headquarters in Khan Younis were hit by an Israeli strike, killing one staff member and injuring three others.
Footage posted on social media shows a fire broke out in the building.
Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a 60-day ceasefire, and a deal for the release of half the hostages still held in Gaza, ended in deadlock last week.
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy told the families of the hostages yesterday that he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would end the war.
Steve Witkoff arrives to meet families of hostages in Tel Aviv. Pic: AP
Steve Witkoff claimed that Hamas was willing to disarm to stop the conflict, despite the group’s repeated statements that it would not do so.
In response, Hamas said it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.
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After Mr Witkoff’s meeting with the families of the hostages, Hamas released two videos of an emaciated Israeli hostage, Evyatar David, who was abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 and has been held in captivity in Gaza since.
The 24-year-old looked skeletal, with his shoulder blades protruding from his back. He was heard saying that he had not eaten for three days. The distressing videos show him digging his own grave, he said in the footage.
Two videos of an emaciated Israeli hostage, Evyatar David, have been released by Hamas, after US special envoy Steve Witkoff this week met with the families of the hostages.
The now 24-year-old looks skeletal, with his shoulder blades protruding from his back, and says he has not eaten for three days.
The distressing videos show him apparently digging his own grave.
He worked in a restaurant, according to a video posted by Labour Friends of Israel, before he was abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023.
Since then, he has been held in captivity in Gaza, and the videos suggest he is being kept in dark tunnels and surviving on scarce portions of lentils and beans.
Gaza itself is suffering “man-made mass starvation” because of Israel’s blockade on aid to the enclave, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has previously said.
Evyatar David before he was captured by Hamas. Pic: Hostages and Missing Families Forum
In the video, Evyatar David writes on a hand-made calendar on the wall of a tunnel
In the second video, released on Saturday, Mr David – according to the English subtitles – says: “I haven’t eaten for three days.”
The captions continue as he speaks while in an underground tunnel: “There’s no [sic] enough food. I barely get drinking water.”
The video shows him talking through what he ate in July, which has been recorded on a handmade calendar hung up on the side of an underground Gaza tunnel.
Speaking while under captivity and under duress, he adds: “They give me what they can get.”
At the end of the video, he is digging a hole. The subtitle reads: “This is the grave where I think I’m going to be buried in. Time is running out.”
He then appears to break down, crouching on the floor and leaning his head on his arm while still clinging to the shovel.
A poster released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum with photos of Evyatar David released in 2023, February this year and July
In a statement, his family said: “We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza – a living skeleton, buried alive.
“Our son has only a few days left to live in his current condition.”
They added: “Israel and the international community must oppose Hamas’s cruelty and ensure that our Evyatar immediately receives proper nutrition.
“The intentional starvation, torture, and abuse of Evyatar for propaganda purposes violate even the lowest standards of humanitarian law and basic human decency.”
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Gaza nurse: ‘We’re rationing care’
‘Famine’ looms in Gaza
On Friday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff visited a site where the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been distributing food in Gaza.
Read more: ‘Little confidence’ US Gaza delegation would see full picture
The controversial GHF scheme has been widely condemned, including by the UK government, after fatal shootings ever since it was set up earlier this year.
According to the United Nations’ human rights office, at least 859 people have been killed “in the vicinity” of GHF aid sites since late May.
The Israel Defence Forces has repeatedly said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians” and has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians.
Meanwhile, the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IFSPC) this week said a “worst-case scenario of famine” was sinking in across the besieged enclave.
It has also said more than 20,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition since April.
Families of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are concerned they are also starving, and blame Hamas.
On Saturday, Gaza’s health ministry said a further seven Palestinians had died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours, including a child.
Rescue crews searching for five trapped Chilean miners have discovered a body.
A section of the copper mine had collapsed on Thursday following a strong, 4.2-magnitude tremor.
The remaining four miners are still missing – and rescuers are vowing to continue their search with “strength and hope”.
A man reacts during a vigil at an entrance to El Teniente mine complex. Pic: Reuters/Pablo Sanhueza
Andres Music, general manager of El Teniente mine, said: “This discovery fills us with sadness, but it also tells us that we are in the right place, that the strategy we followed led us to them.”
Crews are trying to drill through 90m (295ft) of rock to reach the trapped miners, but Mr Music said they had not yet made contact with the workers.
Just over a fifth of the blocked underground tunnels have been cleared, with teams hoping to get through about 15m to 20m (49ft to 66ft) every 24 hours using heavy machinery.
He said rescue efforts would continue with increased caution, which could slow progress.
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Two people are now known to have died as a result of the collapse.
Another miner, Paulo Marin Tapia, was found dead on Thursday shortly after the incident.
Codelco, which owns the mine, said the identity of the second man is yet to be confirmed.
Nine other miners were injured.
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