A few years after losing her partner of nearly 40 years to Covid, Julie Osgood decided she wanted to give the modern dating world a try.
But the experience left the 60-year-old, from Middleton, resigned to "staying single" - because the first four men she matched with all turned out to be scammers.
Julie, who had been with her partner Tony Donohue from the age of 17 until his death in November 2020, described signing up to a dating app as "a really big step".
While she worked out each fraudster's true intentions before parting with any cash, she said: "I'll never, ever go on a dating website again. I just don't know where you're meant to meet genuine people."
'Similar playbook'
Julie said she wanted to speak up to help prevent other people falling victim to similar scams - and to put pressure on dating sites to take action.
According to figures obtained by the BBC last year, the amount of money lost to romance fraud cases reported to Action Fraud went above £92m in 2024, up from £82m the year before.
The first three times Julie was targeted on the same dating app, she said each scammer followed a similar playbook.
Julie OsgoodMessages of financial woe from the man Julie believed to be scamming herPictures of the men Julie had matched with, shared with the BBC, showed tell-tale signs that they have been generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) - such as jumbled lettering on text in the background.
"They all start off with similar stories," she said.
"They've all been widowed except for this one who said he was divorced, but they all seemed to have teenage daughters who tend to live with their mother.
"It starts off normal, probably for like a week or two, but then they've either got a go away on a business trip, while they were out on a business trip he lost his briefcase and he needed help with something.
"It takes them a few weeks to actually ask for anything."
After her initial disappointing foray into online dating Julie gave up.
However after a house move in December last year and the last of her children leaving home, she decided to try one more time.
"I am going be alone and I don't want to be alone forever," she said.
"I thought the only way is really the dating website so I'll give it one more go, and I joined a different one for like a month to see how it went."
'Here we go again'
This time Julie signed up to a dating app aimed at over-50s, called Ourtime.
Soon, she matched with a man using the name Franck.
In good shape and with fair hair, Franck told Julie he was an architect who had come to the UK from his native France three years earlier.
Again, Franck claimed to be divorced and have a teenage daughter, but seemed genuine and after chatting on WhatsApp for a couple of weeks Julie wanted to ask if he would meet for a drink to see if he was the real deal.
She said: "I thought, this is a way that I can tell if you're real or not real. And it was like 'yeah that would be great', but then about four days after, all of a sudden, he had to go away to France and I thought 'here we go again'."
This time Julie played along to see what Franck's ultimate intentions were - and because "if he's talking to me he's not doing it to anyone else".
What he wanted soon became clear.
The person behind the account began to spin a story about fighting a court case relating to his late father's estate - and then claimed a ruling had gone against him and that his bank accounts had been frozen.
In messages to Julie, Franck said the situation was "destroying me mentally and emotionally".
'Accused me of lying'
Julie, still playing along, offered to travel to Paris to hand over £20,000 in cash which she said she had withdrawn to pay for builders.
She sent him flight details and they arranged to meet at arrivals, but Julie never got on the plane.
"There was probably someone waiting there to mug me," she said.
Julie strung the scammer along for two hours before he gave up.
She said Franck accused her of "lying" about being in France and demanded her location and hotel room.
Julie said she reported the case to Greater Manchester Police, who have been contacted for comment.
Asked why she wanted to share her story, Julie said: "I'm annoyed because it's four times and I just think 'give me a break'.
"Obviously they're going to do it to somebody else and somebody else might not be as lucky, and part with a lot of money."
Julie has since reported the account to Ourtime.
In an email sent to Julie and shared with the BBC, Ourtime said: "Our members' safety is our top priority and we aim to create a safe and friendly environment for all users."
The service requested more information on the account and said if the police wanted their help they would "assist the investigation in any way we can".
The BBC contacted Ourtime for further comment.
Julie said the experience had knocked her confidence.
"I've given up now, I'm just going to stay alone," she said.
"I never thought I'd be a widow at 54, I never thought my partner would pass of Covid - he never even got a cold in his life - but you know stuff happens doesn't it.
"I am only just 60, and I'm not an old 60, and the thought of being alone forever does fill me with dread, but where do you meet somebody? I don't know."
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