During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dianne, 88, said was lonely as she was not seeing friends and family. She started speaking to a man who claimed to be called ‘Hillary Mammdov’ or ‘Larry’ on Facebook and eventually sent him over £35,000. “[The pandemic] was a horrible, horrible time, and I think he saved my life,” she said.
On the BBC programme For Love or Money on Wednesday, Kym Marsh and Ashley John-Baptiste tried to show Dianne the truth behind this online romance fraud in an effort to help her draw a line under this horrific chapter in her life.
Larry claimed to Dianne that he was an engine room engineer on a ship which meant he was always travelling around. He said he had dual Azerbaijan and American citizenship, and was living in America at the time.
He told her his account in Azerbaijan was frozen and promised to pay her back when his account reactivated, when asking her for help.
She was not worried about getting repaid as she thought Larry was good for money. He had sent her documents proving he had $1million (around £7.9million), but for various excuses he could not access his money.
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Dianne was determined to get Larry to come to the UK so they could finally meet.
He later claimed to be in New Zealand, he told her he would come to the UK before returning to America. However on the way to the airport he claimed he was in a motorbike accident.
After receiving a…
