Love Bombed

Vicky Pattison meets Caroline, who lost her home after matching with prolific romance fraudster Raymond McDonald on a dating site.
McDonald was posing as Mark Swift, a stressed-out chef with a seriously ill daughter. Within six months he had proposed, emptied Caroline’s bank account and left her with suspected PTSD.
Caroline was in court when McDonald was sent to prison for defrauding her and three other women.
Left to rebuild her life, she assumed he’d learnt his lesson - she’s about to find out just how wrong she was.
Love Bombed: WifeHunter presented by Vicky Pattison.
Writer and Producer: Jane Downs and Barney Rowntree.
Investigative reporter: Philippa Goymer.
Story Consultant: Barney Rowntree.
Sound designer: Kasel Kundola.
Online Producer: Rachael Smith.
Executive Producer: Dan Farthing (BBC Investigations NE & Cumbria).
Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin.
Lovebombed was made at BBC Radio Newcastle for BBC Sounds.
Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

Vicky Pattison uncovers one the UK’s most disturbing and prolific Lovebombers, Raymond McDonald.
Discover how one man has been able to repeatedly invent new personas online and use them to scam unsuspecting women for more than twenty years.
Despite a court ban he is still on dating apps and talking to women. One of them is us.
Have you been love bombed? Tell us your story at [email protected].
Credits:
Love Bombed: WifeHunter presented by Vicky Pattison.
Writer and Producer: Jane Downs and Barney Rowntree.
Investigative reporter: Philippa Goymer.
Story Consultant: Barney Rowntree.
Sound designer: Kasel Kundola.
Online Producer: Rachael Smith.
Executive Producer: Dan Farthing (BBC Investigations NE & Cumbria).
Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin.
Lovebombed was made at BBC Radio Newcastle for BBC Sounds.
Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

Vicky Pattison talks to author Becky Holmes who has turned the tables on scammers who pretend to be celebrities.
They attempt to contact “Elon Musk” and recreate conversations with “Mick Jagger” and “Keanu Reeves” - all spelling and grammatic errors are the fraudsters own.
If you have been affected by a scam or fraud, there's help available via bbc.co.uk/actionline on the 'Fraud & Scams" page.
Statements from platforms featured:
Instagram say that accounts that impersonate someone else are against their Community Guidelines and they remove them when brought to their attention. They say that they have added extra protections to the user’s genuine Facebook and Instagram accounts designed to tackle account impersonation. They say they don’t allow fraudulent activity and work closely with law enforcement to support investigations.
X(formerly Twitter) say Impersonation is a violation of their rules. They say that you may not misappropriate the identity of individuals, groups, or organizations or use a fake identity to deceive others. They say when they receive an impersonation report, they will investigate the reported account to determine if it violates the X Rules. Accounts determined to be in violation of their Misleading and Deceptive identities policy will either be suspended or asked to update the account(s) so they no longer violate their policies.
Presenter: Vicky Pattison.
Producer: Emma Goswell.
Sounds Producer: Paul Hilton.
Online producer: Rachael Smith.
Producer for You Tube: Paul Gay.
Visualised Podcast Team: Amita Parekh, Ali Ali, Alicia Thursting, Andy Bosley, Chris House, David Kwan, Natasha Peach, Rafael Bujosa, Rob Grieve and The 44d team.
Executive Producer: Kathryn Morrison.

A passionate love affair, a clash of cultures, was Michelle's relationship really a romance fraud?
Have you been love-bombed? Tell us your story at [email protected].
Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

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