A WOMAN was conned into handing over more than £13,000 to an "evil, twisted" serial fraudster who targeted women on dating websites.

Vicky (whose name has been changed to protect her identity) met Emmanuel Scotts on the dating website Ourtime.

Scotts told Vicky, a south Essex business owner who live with her teenage son, he was a recently divorced financial markets trader.

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The cruel romance-crook showered Vicky with attention and even came to her house and had sex with her before he started asking for money.

Echo: Emmanuel Scotts Emmanuel Scotts (Image: Essex Police)

In reality, Scotts was married and Vicky was just one of several women he was exploiting.

“I hate him for what he’s done,” said Vicky.

“I’d not had a significant other in my life for a very long time and I wanted to meet somebody. He came to my home and he knew I didn’t live in luxury. All he was interested in was what he could get out of me.

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“He was his 50s, very smartly dressed – designer labels, designer watch – he was pristine. He said he was going help me with my business. He said he had a penthouse in Chelsea, a Range Rover and had made plenty of money from the stock market.

“He told me he’d fallen head over heels in love with me.”

She added: “We’d go out together as a family for dinner. He was making promises about everything we’d do when lockdown was over. It was all carefully engineered to make me trust him.”

Scotts then began asking for money. He claimed he temporarily couldn’t access his bank account and wanted £3,000 from Vicky to fund on opportunity on the Hong Kong stock market.

The requests and excuses continued until Scotts owed Vicky more than £13,000.

In November 2022, Scotts, 55, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding four women out of more than £320,000 following an investigation by City of London Police.

Vicky gave evidence against Scotts at Kingston Crown Court.

She said: “Defrauding people is a business to him. He set me up from day one. It’s all pre-planned and carefully engineered. Every little step is managed. He’s an evil, twisted man. I’d have loved the judge to make him work to pay us all back.