Illustration. Photo by Getty Images
- Lindy Booysens* fell for a Tinder love scam and regrets it.
- All she wants now is her money back, and she is taking legal action against the man she says scammed her.
- She says she is unhappy, bankrupt and has a lot of debt.
His pictures are pretty Instagrammable content. Nyiko, 43, as seen by those in pursuit of a love connection on Tinder, does not look like someone who would ask you for money.
He takes pictures while standing next to Mercs, Beemers or the devil’s fork, a Maserati. In all pictures, he is seen dressed in trendy designer clothes.
When Lindy Booysens* came across his profile on the dating app, there was an interest. When they matched, Lindy thought her time to date a decent looking man had come.
READ MORE | Lessons on dating, love and scammers from The Tinder Swindler
After a chat on the app, Lindy tells W24 that he started calling. “We met. He started coming to my place on several occasions. I liked his personality. He he seemed genuine and helpful.”
When they met, he pulled up in a white Range Rover, and this did not look like a man with financial problems.
After some weeks of meeting, the swindling started showing up, but Lindy didn’t notice it until her money was all gone.
READ MORE | ‘I scammed a scammer’ – How this Cape Town woman got back at her lying, scheming online dating match
She says: “He told me he is a businessman, and he showed me so many things, even his bank accounts. And that SARS had frozen his assets, and he has a pending court case and needs money. I borrowed money to help him. He was supposed to pay it back in May 2021, but he didn’t.”
Lindy kept calling to check where the money was, but he stopped responding to messages and taking her calls, or when he did, he would lie about paying her back.
READ MORE | ‘I love the freedom of being single, but it’s lonely’ – Women on the pros and cons of living solo
But he was not done yet. The swindling was only getting intense.
He promised her a tender with the City of Tshwane and convinced her to apply as a vendor for a water project. “He was not alone in this. There was a man and a woman who would call me to tell me about forms I needed to fill in,” she says.
“It looked genuine, but I realised later that it wasn’t. These were all tricks. There was a lot of pressure about paying for ‘watercoolers’ to make sure I get the so-called water tender promised,” Lindy adds.
Later, after connecting the dots, she checked the 012 number she thought would be from the offices of City of Tshwane on True Caller.
“I found out the number calling me is registered to the department of correctional services,” Lindy explains.
READ MORE | Woman sees all the red flags after scammer lies about sending her R19 500 ‘by mistake’
It has been confusion and one story after the other.
She tells us she has filed a civil claim through her lawyers and has struggled to locate him. But after attempts to find him, the sheriff has sent a summons to his place. “This affected me big time. I want him to pay back my money because I got some of the money from other people. I am bankrupt, in debt, and unhappy,” a distraught Lindy says.
Not her real name*
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