'My fake Kenyan bride-to-be scammed me out of £85k'

A susceptible widower has been near stateless and “truly suffering” aft being hoodwinked into sending £85,000 to a pistillate who ne'er existed.

Rodrick Lodge, 69, was surviving successful Leiston, Suffolk, erstwhile a person helium had met 3 years earlier successful Kenya enactment him successful interaction with a "woman" named Anita.

After gathering a narration implicit societal media, helium felt himself falling successful emotion for the archetypal clip since the decease of his woman Pauline successful 2019, and helium aboriginal agreed to determination to Nairobi to wed her.

But what Mr Lodge was really falling for was an elaborate scam, which would yet spot his full beingness savings drained from his slope and permission him with nothing.

“She said she had a four-bedroom location but to get joined I would request to springiness her a dowry, truthful I agreed to bash up her location for her, that was the agreement," said Mr Lodge, who antecedently lived successful Surrey.

“So, I started sending her wealth for assorted parts for the location and she would nonstop maine pictures of the location being upgraded, arsenic good arsenic different intimate pictures.

“She told maine she was the managing manager of a quality products institution which had astir 30 employees, truthful I thought she was a pistillate with substance.”

Mr Lodge lone realised what had happened erstwhile the clip came for him to yet alert retired to Kenya to unite with who helium thought was his caller emotion and bride-to-be.

But erstwhile helium landed astatine the airport, she was obscurity to beryllium found, and his hopeless attempts to conscionable up with her were met with excuses aft excuses.

After doing immoderate digging, Mr Lodge realised the pistillate pretending to beryllium Anita was really his person who had archetypal enactment them successful interaction with each other.

“The statement was that we’d decently conscionable successful Nairobi, but that ne'er happened and it turned retired to beryllium a scam and Anita ne'er existed,” added the erstwhile United Nations worker.

“She is the worst of the worst, but I was an idiot and a fool, I cognize that, and present I americium paying the unspeakable outgo of that. I genuinely judge she existed. I'm embarrassed.”

After flying backmost to the UK, Mr Lodge slept unsmooth successful Heathrow Airport for 3 days. He is present surviving successful a stateless structure successful Woking and said helium had small anticipation for the future.

Mr Lodge said: “After losing my wife, the astir important idiosyncratic successful my life, I was truthful susceptible due to the fact that I wanted a spouse and prime of life.

“Now this has ruined my aboriginal beingness - I’ve got nary beingness present and I person got thing to get up for. I person nary family, lone a fewer friends who telephone maine an idiot.

“I americium genuinely suffering due to the fact that I person got zero. It has taken each penny I had and truthful I genuinely anticipation this evil pistillate rots successful hellhole - I’m atrocious to accidental that, but I truly do.”