A reformed Nigerian fraudster has revealed how he posed as a US soldier to defraud a lonely older woman out of £17,000 - but she later "adopted him like a son".
Chris Bamibeli is now on the straight-and-narrow after trading in his VPN relocation apps to work in a bakery in Ekiti - one of Nigeria's poorest states.
The self-taught fraudster's start in the world of relationship scams came after starting university in 2016, when he found himself with just four pieces of clothing, and no money to buy more.
But within a few years, he had perfected his con-artistry and snagged himself an older woman in the US who forked out $20,000 (£17,000) to support the army serviceman she believed was her boyfriend.
The woman, who Chris only identified as Laura, had fallen in love and would regularly send him anything from $200 to thousands of dollars because she thought she was helping her new military lover.
Speaking exclusively with The Mirror, the fraudster confessed how he stole the identity of a "cute" and "handsome" US soldier by lifting his pictures and profile from Instagram to reel in lonely retired divorcees.
Once the trusting woman had fallen for him, he started the tall tales which played on her emotions and resulted in him securing the cash, he told The Mirror.
He added: "I told her I'm on deployments, and I don't have access to my bank account.
"Or I don't have access to my credit card, so I'm literally starving. I'm starving and I need to pay money for my rent or my bills."
Chris made it seem like he was in dire straits and that Laura was the only one who could help him.
"When someone is in a relationship with you, they don't want you to suffer," he said. "So I just used that opportunity to ask her for money."
"Sometimes I told them [other victims] 'okay, I'm coming home from deployment', but I add that I need to pay for my lift home, or I need to pay for my liberty pass card and most of them fall for it," he added.
Laura's small donations started racking up, and soon Chris had $20,000 of her money in his account.
But the American mum's life was now falling apart, with her drowning in debt and experiencing mental health issues as a result of the situation.
Seeing the pain he'd caused Laura, Chris claims to have undergone a crisis of conscience that lead to him giving up fraud for an honest life.
Chris said: "I started feeling like a guilty conscience because this was the first time I actually scammed a lot of money like that.
"My conscience was so so disturbing me, like she'd become depressed because of my scamming.
"She ran into debt, she couldn't be happy, she couldn't eat."
Chris decided he had to come clean so he told Laura the man she believed she was in a relationship with was actually him, a fraudster who targeted her because of her vulnerability and desperation to fall in love.
He said: "And so I thought I should come clean to her and I did. I told her who I was and sent her my pictures. I called her on a video call.
"But to my surprise she didn't block me. And she ended up adopting me like a son.
"She told me that she already forgave me and we've been talking since then."
It was this kindness that triggered Chris' desire to "let the world know what I did".
Chris - who now works with Social Catfish, a company dedicated to preventing online scams through reverse search technology - said he plans to pay Lisa back every penny that he stole.
After admitting his crimes, he says the mum "adopted" him like a son and even offered for him to meet her face-to-face in the US.
When asked how people can keep themselves safe from similar scams, Chris said women should pay close attention to the man they think they're talking to for red flags.
He added that someone not willing to video call is an immediate "no-no".
"The first thing women need to do, is stop rushing out for guys that are so so cute. Stop talking to cute guys," he said.
"When you see guys who go to the gym, or are so handsome. Like, it's so fake. You can't date a guy like that, he would obviously have a girlfriend or a wife.
"They should actually look deep before falling in love. Ask for a video call...If no one can make a video call with you then it's a no-no."
Admitting that he targeted retired divorcees, he told The Mirror how he searched across the UK, US, Australia, Canada and Germany for his victims.
But the former conman was never successful targeting UK women, which he said because "British women will tell you 'go find a job', 'go find a job'."
He laughed as he said: "They don't give money out so easy."
"It's so hard to scam from the UK. In the US, the women are like super nice and feel sorry for you, but in the UK they want you to be a man," he added.
