Inside jailed romance scammer's £300k con as victim admits 'I fell for his lies'

07 February 2024 , 14:07

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A woman hoodwinked by a serial romance fraudster has told of feeling "stupid" for "falling for his lies" about his wealth as he was jailed for fleecing other victims out of more than £300,000.

The mum from Cheshire was left in shock as the successful businessman she knew as Myles was jailed for a series of scams leaving four different victims out of pocket. Myles - whose real identity is Cieran McNamara from Coventry, bragged about his riches to women on dating sites before 'borrowing' cash to fund his extravagant lifestyle.

McNamara was jailed for seven years at Chester crown court on Tuesday after it was heard the 37-year-old weaved a web of lies, sending women pictures of him outside mansions and travelling first class, staying in five star hotels. The reality behind the high-flying facade was an unemployed man from Coventry living out of a suitcase.

Fraud detectives who brought down McNamara discovered he had swindled hundreds of thousands of pounds from four women after convincing them he was a successful businessman with an impressive property portfolio. He would buy the women gifts and weekends away, taking them to fancy dinners - all paid for with the cash he pilfered from his previous victim.

After gaining their trust, he would then fabricate a crisis such as a banking glitch and claimed he needed to borrow cash. The Cheshire mum, who did not want to be named, said she managed to dodge being conned, but that McNamara kept in touch with her for "years" keeping up his lie.

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"It was probably about eight years ago," she told The Mirror. "We met on Plenty Of Fish and exchanged numbers. We hooked up once and then we just went silent on each other. He's then contacted me throughout the years but it's only been chatting - we never hooked up again. I do feel rather stupid that it didn't click that each time he started messaging me again it was always on a different number, he told me he had to keep changing his number due to work."

Inside jailed romance scammer's £300k con as victim admits 'I fell for his lies'

McNamara sent selfies of him travelling first class across the world in a bid to fool his victims (Cheshire Police)

He spun a web of lies which police suspect even he believed, unable to tell the difference 'between reality and fantasy' (Cheshire Police)

McNamara continued trying to initiate conversations with the woman as recently as 2020, saying he was passing through her hometown for work. "I keep thinking 'why choose me', because I haven't got money and he knew that. I'm just still shocked."

McNamara's scam allowed him to live the "high life" police said, with detectives who raided his home discovering thousands of pounds' worth of designer clothing he'd paid for with his ill-gotten gains. Over a 12-month period, he managed to pocket £302,054.26 from four victims in Cheshire, Warwickshire and Hertfordshire.

But that all came crashing down in September last year, when one of his victims twigged and he was finally arrested for fraud. He was jailed for seven years on Tuesday, pleading guilty to four counts of fraud by false representation. The mum added: "He really only lied about his name and his employment. I'm so shocked I fell for his lies. When you hear the word 'catfished', you think it's about how they look. You don't realise it's about who they are as well."

While the term 'catfish' typically refers to people who use other people's pictures on dating profiles to attract more people, McNamara used his own pictures, instead creating a false persona of a wealthy business magnate. Police said he showed women images of himself at mansions in London and Cheshire and travelling first class.

Economic crime detectives raided a storage lock-up rented by McNamara, discovering £19,500' worth of brand new goods – including a £1,900 Burberry Coat, a £400 Burberry Scarf, Dubarry boots, Gucci trainers and a Ping golf set. He was arrested in Colchester in September 28. Police said the probe to find other assets of his remained ongoing, with all his gains since seized subject to the Proceeds of Crime Act.

He was jailed for seven years (Cheshire Police)

Detective Constable Victoria Hazlewood from Cheshire Police, who led the investigation, described the fraudster as a 'manipulative' crook who likely has even more victims, saying “I truly believe that he cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy”. “During our investigation, we uncovered a web of lies with thousands of text messages which he sent to his victims in order to extort cash to fund his lavish lifestyle,” Detective Hazlewood said.

“He convinced his victims that he was a millionaire with properties across the country, but in reality, he was unemployed and living out of suitcase. McNamara identified ways he could control and manipulate his victims and throughout the investigation, he has shown no remorse for his actions.

“He truly believed that he would never be caught by police and that he would never be held accountable for his despicable behaviour. Thankfully, because of the courage and bravery of his victims, and the work of the team here in the Economic crime unit at Cheshire Constabulary, McNamara was left with no option other than to admit his guilt.

“While he is now behind bars, I have no doubt that there are other victims across the country who have been treated in the same way and I would encourage them to come forward.“