A CANADIAN woman’s dream holiday romance turned into a living nightmare, when she jetted off for her anniversary, only to find her Mexican lover was tying the knot just 450 metres away.
Aly, in her early 40s, thought she’d found love with a charming resort worker. Instead, she was dragged into a shocking saga of lies, blackmail, revenge porn and death threats.
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She first met the smooth-talking entertainment manager while on a solo birthday trip to Mexico in January 2022.
At first, she resisted his advances, but after a week-long fling he kept chasing her once she flew home.
Speaking on the We’re all insane podcast on Youtube, she said that long-distance fling spiralled quickly.
Within weeks he was promising her a future, while secretly draining her bank account.
She was left around $9,000 (almost £7,000) out of pocket, paying for flights and even a MacBook Pro.
He insisted she stay in resorts when visiting, always keeping her at arm’s length.
A year later, Aly flew back to Cabo to celebrate their “anniversary”. But on the shuttle to her hotel, she checked Facebook and her world collapsed.
There on his page was a wedding post. Her lover had just married another Canadian woman, with the reception taking place a stone’s throw from Aly’s hotel.
In disbelief, Aly messaged him: “Congrats. Did you get married today?”
He brazenly met her the next morning, still lying through his teeth, even claiming they had broken up months earlier but he had “forgotten to mention it”.
Aly later discovered the bride was also his victim.
He’d been with her for three years, proposing the very same day Aly bought him that laptop.
When his new wife left him after learning the truth, the serial love-rat turned on both women, launching a campaign of harassment, fake accounts, blackmail and death threats.
Six weeks later, as Aly mourned the death of her father, he released intimate photos and videos of her online, even tagging her employer.
Devastated, Aly quit her 20-year career as an interior designer and took six months off work. But she refused to stay silent.
She started a podcast, Sex, Lies and Tacos, vowing to expose him if the harassment didn’t stop.
Her ultimatum worked and the campaign of terror ended.
Now retrained as a coach, Aly helps others find resilience after trauma.
She told the We’re All Insane podcast: “I make it very clear that if he doesn’t stop, I’ll re-record and share his name. I’ll share all of it.”
Romance scams
Aly isn’t the only lover to fall for a betraying romance scam.
In fact, UK Finance reports that losses to romance fraud reached £36.5 million in 2023.
Alongside these scams, sextortion is rising sharply.
The National Crime Agency now receives more than 110 reports each month involving UK children and teens, with young men disproportionately targeted.
Technology has supercharged the threat, as criminals increasingly deploy AI-generated fake profiles to impersonate real people, earn trust, and exploit victims.
These schemes rarely begin with money, instead relying on flattery and emotional manipulation before escalating to demands for cash, gifts, or intimate content, leaving victims not only financially drained but also deeply ashamed, often too embarrassed to report.
Dating apps can be a breeding ground for scammers to target their prey.
Johanna Mason, CEO of Cherry, is calling for dating apps to tighten up their security to avoid this.
Johanna said: “The issue is certainly difficult to police, and at Cherry we strongly advocate for apps to collaborate more closely.
“This can be done by sharing data on banned profiles, ensuring scammers are effectively blocked from simply moving onto other platforms”.
Cherry Dating was built to counter these risks by embedding user safety into the very design of its platform.
Unlike most apps, Cherry requires multiple layers of digital and manual identity checks before users are allowed to match or message, reducing anonymity and the prevalence of fake accounts.
Cheating partners
Meanwhile, while Aly made sure to get her revenge, not everyone is willing to give up on a cheating partner.
A woman revealed that her cheating husband hid his lovechild from her for eight years, but she forgave him, claiming he was perfect in every other way..
Amparo Macalua was told her husband Peer had an affair with a woman half his age, she thought that was the worst of it.
But, eight years after forgiving him, the mum-of-one was in for more heartbreak – when she discovered Peer had conceived a secret second child.
Despite all this, she insists their marriage is now stronger than ever.
And she’s not alone.
Another woman has also claimed that her husband cheating on her was “the best thing that ever happened” to her marriage.
Charity Craig, 45, said it was “devastating” when she learned her husband was having an affair over a decade into their marriage but now they’re “happier than ever.”
But not all women decide to forgive and move on.
One mum got the ultimate revenge on her cheating ex after he threatened to rob the home she lives in with his kid.
The furious woman went viral after destroying her partner’s designer clothes in a blaze of paint-splattered glory.
How to spot a romance scam
TO stop people falling victim to romance scams, police revealed the signs to look out for to help spot the scammers.
PROTECT YOUR INFO
Be wary of giving out personal information on a website or chatroom. Fraudsters will quickly contact you, often showing you glamorous photos of themselves and gaining your trust.
VAGUE INFO
A fraudster will make conversation more personal to get information out of you, but won’t tell you much about themselves that you can check or verify.
HIGH FLYERS
Romance fraudsters often claim to have high ranking roles that keep them away from home for a long time. This could be a ploy to deter your suspicions around not meeting in person.
DODGY SITES
Fraudsters will usually attempt to steer you away from chatting on a legitimate dating site that can be monitored. Stay on the platform that you started using initially, rather than switching to email, text or phone.
SOB STORIES
A fraudster may tell stories to target your emotions and get you to give them money.
They may claim they have an ill relative or are stranded in a country they don’t want to be in.
They may not ask you directly for money, hoping instead that you’ll offer it out of the goodness of your heart. Do not do this.
PRICEY PRESENTS
Sometimes the fraudsters will send the victim valuable items such as laptops, computers and mobile phones, asking them to resend them elsewhere.
They will invent a reason as to why they need the goods sent, but this may just be a way for them to cover up their criminal activity.
Alternatively they may ask a victim to buy the goods themselves and send them elsewhere.
MONEY PLOYS
Often, they will ask victims to accept money into their bank account and then transfer it to someone else using bank accounts, MoneyGram, Western Union, iTunes vouchers or other gift cards.
These scenarios are very likely to be forms of money laundering and you could be committing a criminal offence.
Source: Sussex Police
