A woman who discovered 84 possible lonely hearts scammers has warned daters to be ‘on guard’ if suitors have ‘one glamorous picture’ and reveal how much they’re earning.
Suzanne Parker, 71, from Bristol, started online dating after losing her beloved husband John in 2004 to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – a lung condition that causes breathing difficulties.
But the no-nonsense retired NHS manager met countless men trying to scam her – from one who lied about being a surgeon, to another that falsely claimed he worked on an oil rig, and a third who asked her for £1,000.
After recovering from the emotional distress that left her feeling ‘insecure’, Suzanne started to offer advice on how to spot a fake and even puts herself out there as bait, tweaking her profile slightly to make herself sound more vulnerable.
Now dubbed the ‘Scammer Detector’, Suzanne appeared on This Morning today to warn about the signs people should be looking for, and recalled how she encountered 84 possible fakers before finding her new man.
A woman (pictured on This Morning) who discovered 84 possible lonely hearts scammers has warned daters to be ‘on guard’ if suitors have ‘one glamorous picture’ and reveal how much they’re earning
The 71-year-old began online dating after the death of her husband John in 2004. Pictured: Suzanne with John
She said: ‘I had one man who I got friendly with online and he said he worked on an oil rig, and I said how many other people work with you and he said “Nobody, I work on my own”.
‘I said “How do you get your suppers?”, and he said “I get it flown in by a helicopter”, and I thought, “No, that’s an unlikely story”.’
Describing another scammer she met online, Suzanne said: ‘He went on a building project and then three days into his trip said his check card didn’t work, his chip and pin, so could I send him a £1,000.’
Suzanne then went on to explain what people should be looking out for if they want to avoid fake profiles or scammers.
‘So they normally have one very good looking photograph on there,’ she said. ‘With a pet on there. It’s the old tug on the heart strings really, and it’s mainly widows, and they’ll say they’re widows, with a child and their mothers have died.
But the no-nonsense retired NHS manager (pictured on This Morning) met countless men trying to scam her – from one who lied about being a surgeon, to another that falsely claimed he worked on an oil rig, and a third who asked her for £1,000
After recovering from the emotional distress that left her feeling ‘insecure’, Suzanne (pictured) started to offer advice on how to spot a fake and even puts herself out there as bait, tweaking her profile slightly to make it sound more vulnerable
‘Always if they’ve only got one photograph and it’s very glamorous, they’re very handsome, be on your guard.
‘And if they put down they’re earning between £100,000 to £250,000, because most sensible men, even if they were, wouldn’t put that down.
‘If they’ve got an animal [on their photograph] start asking about their pet.. but often they don’t even know what youre talking about.
‘Look out for building contractors that have their own company, financial advisors and orthopedic surgeons.’
Suzanne , 71, (pictured) who lives in Bristol, revealed the warning signs of scammers when online dating
Recalling how she believes she encountered 84 scammers in three months, she said: ‘I joined this dating site in October and reporter 12, and they were taken down.
‘But then the same dating site, who shall rename nameless, stopped 72 men approaching me as they said the profiles were not appropriate, so to this day I’m not sure what that meant, but that’s 84 people in three months.
‘I got so frustrated in the end that that’s why I started reporting them. I have found somebody now, at the end of the line, but I was at the stage where it was doing my self-esteem a lot of damage.’
When asked by host host Phillip Schofield what online dating was like when she first started after her husband’s death, she said: ‘Very stable. Definitely wasn’t approached by any scammers.’
