Meet the 'Dirty Dozen': The UK's Most Notorious Romance Scammers and Their Deceptive Tactics for Stealing Your Money

“EVEN though people haven’t directly said ‘I told you so’ or called me stupid, I feel judged, nonetheless – my kindness was used against me.”

Those are the heartbreaking words of the “lonely” victim of romance fraudster Simon Turner who was in April jailed for a decade after scamming a woman out of £28,640.

Simon Turner’s mugshot – he left his victim feeling suicidal after conning her out of cash Credit: SWNS

The 49-year-old, from Hampshire, met his victim on a dating website in 2024 and tricked her into handing over thousands – but left her feeling suicidal. But she’s far from the only person to have fallen prey to romance scammers. And some are so unscrupulous they’ll stoop to terrible lows – pretending their ‘child’ has died or they have cancer.

Widowed grandmother-of-eight , from Honiton, Devon, was also lonely when she signed up to an internet dating site in 2017. But her quest for love ended in tragedy when, after handing over £1million to scammers, she died in a car crash in Ghana on Valentine’s Day 2023.

An inquest in Devon last month heard Mrs Fordham had travelled to the African nation in a bid to recoup her losses. According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) cases of romance fraud rose by nine per cent in 2024/2025 with Britons losing £109million in total.

One case the FCA dealt with saw a victim hand over £428,000 in just one year. On another occasion a person made 403 bank transactions in 12 months to the scammer – more than one a day.

Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, says: “. All too often it is the vulnerable that fall victim. The impact – financially and personally – can be devastating.”

Now The Sun unveils its dirty dozen gallery of romance scammers.

SIMON TURNER

Appearing at Reading Crown Court at the end of April, Turner pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and was jailed for a decade and banned from contacting his unnamed victim for the same amount of time.

He met her in Amesbury, Wilts., in 2024 on a dating website. They booked holidays together and it seemed like love… but Turner would always cancel at the 11th hour.

Her family became suspicious and found out he’d previously been convicted of fraud and theft.

But trickster Turner promised he’d changed and their relationship continued.

In August 2025 he told her he had more than £60,000 in a property account he couldn’t access and asked her to lend him cash, which she did.

She also hired a van for him and paid numerous fines. A ‘caravan’ he’d bought for them to enjoy together didn’t appear.

Eventually he was caught but not before he defrauded her out of nearly £30,000. She says: “I was lonely and vulnerable when I first met Simon. I had no confidence. He made lots of promises and told me what I wanted to hear. He stole mine and my son’s financial security, I don’t trust anyone now. He was very believable and convincing with the things he’d tell me. His actions have been detrimental to my mental health, to the point of feeling suicidal. I feel hurt, isolated, embarrassed, angry and judged.”

David Checkley has been described as being a Walter Mitty-esque figure Credit: SUPPLIED

DAVID CHECKLEY

Walter Mitty-esque love rat presented himself as a wealthy architect, Vietnam War veteran, fighter pilot and divorced from a billionaire electronics heiress.

Of course none of it was true, but a ruse to impress a litany of women who he fleeced out of a combined £100,000.

With his illegally obtained money he bought Mercedes cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles and Rolexes.

But his house of cards tumbled around him in December 2023 when Checkley, then 65, of St Albans, Herts., was jailed for 11 years after being convicted of 19 counts of fraud.

Shockingly it wasn’t the first time he’d served time for fraud. In 2010 he was jailed for nearly seven years after defrauding victims of £163,000.

One Metropolitan Police officer, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, describes him as “the most prolific and heartless” romance fraudster they’d investigated.

Meanwhile, victim from Herts., told The Sun how she was recovering from cancer when he targeted her. “I was lonely and I was looking for a partner,” she says.

Raymond McDonald has been jailed multiple times for romance fraud Credit: Unknown

RAYMOND MCDONALD

It’s bad news when your own mum describes you as a “bloody big liar.”

, who has posed as a paramedic, police officer, property developer and army man, has been to jail seven times for cheating women out of cash and defrauding them.

But that’s not all he’s done.

On one occasion McDonald, believed to be from the Durham area, convinced a woman to marry him while on day release from jail.

He also held a sham wedding in Dubai to a partner he’d been dating for a few weeks.

McDonald, 52, who has numerous aliases, was once caught after multiple women posted his snap on the now-shut Facebook group ?

In November 2025 McDonald was released from jail but by December was .

However, it was actually a BBC reporter and it was a sting. He’s now back in prison after breaching his licence.

Cruel Leonnie conned men out of cash, leaving them heartbroken Credit: East Anglia News Service

LEONNIE ROBSON

It’s not just men who can be love rats as , 35, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, proved.

Robson appeared in court in March where she was jailed for more than two years after admitting seven counts of fraud by false representation.

She met the vulnerable men on social media and dating websites and told them lies including that she had cancer, lost a child and was fleeing domestic violence.

She’d start by asking for £10 but eventually they sent her more than £8,000.

One man who had met Robson on an online dating website says: “I thought I’d finally found love and now to realise it was all a lie, is so hard to process. I want to find someone to share my life with, but I just can’t open myself up to the pain of this happening again”.

Another adds: “Losing this money sucks, but the thing that hurts the most is the confirmation I’m not wanted unless I can be taken advantage of. How am I meant to believe and trust people now in the future?

A third man continues: “After becoming a victim of fraud, I removed myself from online dating. This is really hard for someone of my age who is battling with feeling alone. I want to meet someone and have that companionship, but I’m now so scared of being hurt.”

Gemma Kingsley tricked men into handing over wads and spent the money on posh cars Credit: PA

GEMMA KINGSLEY

Glam mum-of-four conned men into spending thousands on her.

The 50-year-old, from Northumberland, told them she was due to inherit a large fortune and used that leverage to encourage to get cash which she splashed on posh cars and a fancy wedding planner.

At Swindon Crown Court she was jailed for seven years and seven months after she admitted six counts of theft and four counts of fraud by false representation, two counts of using a false instrument with intent that it will be accepted as genuine and one count of being in possession of an article for use in fraud.

The court heard Kingsley had a previous conviction in France for fraud by false representation.

The model had used one of her victim’s cards to spend almost 100,000 euros on 5-star hotel stays in the popular French ski resort Albertville.

She was handed a six-month suspended prison sentence, a 6,000 euro fine and was banned from staying in France for five years.

One victim says she was like a “Walter Mitty character.”

He told the : “This was a woman who was well-spoken, educated, not unattractive and who used complex means to deceive people and gain their trust.”

Detective Constable Melissa Pope, from the Wiltshire Police, says Kingsley’s crimes caused “significant emotional anxiety” for her victims. “She manipulated their emotions, assuring them through her future inheritance she would be able to repay the considerable sums,” she adds.

Nigel Baker even tried to romance people while on trial Credit: SWNS

NIGEL BAKER

is believed to be one of Britain’s biggest romance fraudsters after swindling five single mums he found on dating apps out of a combined total of £1million.

He convinced them to take out huge loans and sell their home to feed his gambling habit, promising them a shared future. But then he would take their cash and run.

Baker appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court in December where he was convicted of 18 counts of fraud and was jailed for 17 years.

He was so prolific he was even snaring a new woman while on trial. In one message to her, sent during a break from proceedings, he told her he was on holiday at a luxury country hotel.

“You had not a jot of empathy for anyone at all,” the judge told him. “You are an entirely selfish individual who women need to be protected from.”

Hesaam Ghori told his girlfriend he was a pro footballer, had cancer and needed private treatment – it was all a lie Credit: SWNS

HESAAM GHORI

Watching TikTok the girlfriend of Hesaam Ghori was stunned – because he was posting videos of himself at a wedding the same time he was in hospital for ‘private stomach cancer treatment’ which she had paid for.

It led to her going to the police and Ghori, 27, from Nottingham, was jailed for more than two years after admitting four counts of fraud by false representation related to a string of romance frauds across the UK.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Ghori originally encountered his victim on a dating app and then contacted her on Instagram and subsequently met her in real life.

He told her he played for Burton Albion Football Club and had a clothing sponsorship deal.

As well as saying he was sick, he said his sister had cancer too.

In total she gave him £16,000 over 14 months which he spent on flight tickets to Pakistan, a car and football tickets.

The victim says: “When Hesaam told me he and his little sister were battling cancer, I felt an overwhelming sense of compassion and responsibility to support them. I poured my heart into being there for them emotionally and financially, believing that I was helping someone I loved through a life-threatening ordeal.”

These five men were jailed after pinching nearly £1.8m from victims in a shocking breach of trust Credit: Surrey Police

FAWAZ ALI, EBENEZER TACKIE, MICHAEL QUARTEY, KWABENA EDUSEI, GEORGE MELSEAUX

A team of five men were jailed for a romance fraud scam which saw them steal £1.8million from at least 40 people – but what is more likely 99.

The fraudsters created fake profiles on dating websites to trick their victims and used flirty language to make them think they were in real relationships.

But they were actually just grooming them to ask for cash, creating fake reasons including loans to pay for business trips gone wrong, fines being incurred in remote locations or a stolen wallet and urgently needing money to pay these off.

Victims transferred money to the bank accounts of the men or even sent cash in the post.

The fraud was repeated multiple times until victims had their bank accounts drained.

Fawaz Ali, 27, Ebenezer Tackie, 42, Michael Quartey, 28, were found guilty of money laundering offences after trial and sentenced to four years and 10 months imprisonment, four years and six months imprisonment, and five years and six months imprisonment respectively at Guildford Crown Court.

Kwabena Edusei, 37, who had previously admitted conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, supplying articles for use in fraud and possession of ID documents with an improper intention was sentenced to seven years and 10 months imprisonment.

George Melseaux, 40, who admitted money laundering and possession of ID documents with an improper intention was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment.