Could this be the most romantic online scammer?

I am sure there are so many stories to be told about online dating but I think this story is just a little different.

It started when I logged in one morning and there waiting for me was the most romantic piece of writing I had ever read. While it was lovely to read, and the thought of it being genuine was very flattering, SCAMMER was what I was thinking. I sent an email back to him telling him in no uncertain terms I knew he was a scammer and to leave me alone… in so many words. But no, I was wrong. A return email with yet a more romantic written piece came back almost immediately telling me the message was meant for me and only me. I was the woman of his dreams… He had finally found me. What more could a woman want? A great looking guy and romantic to the core, every woman’s dream.

He explained his business life left no time to find a woman or indeed have a relationship. At this time he was working as consultant in the gas fields in the United Arab Emirates, but now it was time to find someone to settle down with for the rest of his life.

He had an apartment in Essendon in Victoria. I have never been to Essendon but I would have thought such a man of the world would have chosen somewhere a little more exotic, perhaps Port Douglas or somewhere like it. Anyway once he found the love of his life he would build a beautiful home for her and of course they would live happily ever after. Whoever said romance was dead, after this it certainly not me.

I was always of the understanding scammers eventually hit you for money but according to his story he had more than enough, so what was he after? There was no photo on my profile so he had no idea if I was a raving beauty or Mrs Shrek.

I still received that romantic verse every morning and the devil in me told me to play along just to see what the outcome was going to be.

Over the next two weeks, I found out he was born in England and lived there as a boy until his father, who was a diplomat, was posted to America. When his father died at a young age his mother moved to Paris and opened a jewellery store. I think this was when he became a man of the world.

Once he finished his contract in UAE, in ten days, he was coming home to meet me. He never explained how his travels brought him to Australia. Of course before he came back to Australia he had to go to London the next weekend to sell the two homes he owned there. He would also go to Paris to visit his mother who was now in a nursing home.

He told all his work colleagues about me and they were all so happy for him. I told my daughter about him and she wasn’t quite so charitable. She thought the whole thing was as hilarious but it left us both wondering how he was going to end the affair.

Unfortunately my fears of his sincerity were confirmed when he asked what airport he had to fly into to meet me in Sydney the next weekend.

In the latest email I received after his visit to London he was going back to UAE to finalise his contract but instead of coming straight home to me, he decided he was going to Moscow to buy diamonds for the trade and of course the money made meant we definitely would live happily ever after. Remember his mother owned a jewellery store in Paris and taught him everything he knew about precious stones and I am thinking how big will my diamond ring be?

As he was about to fly to Moscow he send me a lovely message from the airport with the promise of seeing me as soon as he bought the diamonds and returned to Paris to sell  them.

There was an email waiting for me the next morning. DISASTER. He was waiting in line at Moscow airport for a cab and he was mugged. They stole everything he had! His wallets with his money and cards, his briefcase and of course his laptop. He had nothing. He was destitute. I think this was the time he was supposed to ask me for money but bless him I think he may have been so traumatised by the mugging, he forgot.  Of course because he had no computer I couldn’t contact him. I’m not sure where he emailed me from and I have this vision of him living at Moscow airport like Tom Hanks in that movie, the name of which escapes me right now.

So Starts at Sixty community – I need your advice! Was he a scammer or not??