WHEN Chantelle Smith’s mum Jean revealed she was in love with a man called Maxwell, there was deep concern. Chantelle had no idea how the 68-year-old could be romancing — as she was trapped in her own home with severe diabetes and needed a wheelchair to get about. It was not long before she realised the pensioner was being tricked by a sick Facebook conman who ripped her off to the tune of £169,000 over seven years.
The scam took an even darker turn when the swindler sent Chantelle intimate pictures of her mum while Jean was in hospital, in an attempt to blackmail her. Jean said: “I’ve been very silly but I was so lonely. “I’ve been on my own for over ten years.
READ MORE ON SCAMMERS “I went on Facebook and a man sent me a message saying ‘hello’ and it just kind of went from there. “I am now talking to warn other people, as these scams need to stop.” Jean owes around £9,000 to energy companies and £8,000 to her carers after transferring huge amounts of her pension and disability payments to the conman through MoneyGram, as well as sending countless vouchers for Amazon and Apple .
Chantelle, 34, said: “It’s an absolute nightmare how much debt mum is in now. Most read in The Sun “We begged her to stop sending money but she wouldn’t listen. “When she told Maxwell we were worried, he would twist things around to make out we were jealous of their relationship .
“We asked everyone involved with mum’s care to help us stop it, but they said she .
