Our mum’s lost everything after being scammed by her catfish boyfriend…but she still thinks he’s the real deal
TWO women have revealed their mother was “love-blinded” and “lost everything” at the hands of online scammers.
Stacey and Traci claim their mum Gail, who previously wired £180,000 to a ‘catfish’ named ‘Fallon Galvin’, was cheated on by her online boyfriend of four, ‘Matt Hurley’, who she struck up a conversation with just a month later.
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They claim her mum even lived without running water and heating so she could send him money – and has since gifted him over £9.4k in gift cards.
However, Gail insists “Matt Hurley” is the real deal but is stuck in Nigeria and can’t afford a plane ticket to the US.
Appearance on a US talk show dr PhilGail explains, “Matt became a marine engineer, but the oil rig he was working on off the coast of Venezuela was damaged and he had to go to Nigeria to buy materials to repair the rig.”
“Unfortunately, he is unable to purchase a ticket to return to the States.
“Matt has been living in a hotel in Warri, Nigeria for the past two years.
“Matt and I don’t have the money to buy the plane ticket for his return to the States.”
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In conversation with Dr. Phil tells Stacey, “I’m frustrated, sick, overwhelmed and at my wit’s end.”
“I told her from the start they were scammers to stop talking to them, but she’s stubborn … she’ll do what she wants to do.”
and that’s what happened.
as dr Phil sends a producer to Warri, Nigeria, he confirms that employees at the oil rig where “Matt Hurley” is said to be working have never seen or heard of the man in the photos.
Additionally, Stacey and Traci previously did a Google image search and found that the man in the photos is actually a motivational speaker in Venezuela named Carlos Fraga.
dr Phil finds that after conducting their own investigation, he can confirm that Stacey and Traci’s findings are correct.
dr Phil talks to Carlos via video link and asks him if he knows Gail in any way and if he’s ever been in contact with her.
“No, I’ve never seen her,” he confirms.
Then asks Dr. Phil Gail on what it feels like to see the man she knows as “Matt Hurley” speak in real time.
“Well, I knew about this motivational speaker,” she admits.
“I knew about him, but someone asked me about him the other day and I said, ‘Why can’t he have two careers?’
She continues, “I don’t know at what point in Matt’s life he went to college.
“How did I know he wasn’t a motivational speaker for a couple of years and then he got his engineering degree?
“But anyway, yeah, that looks like the person I was supposed to be talking to.”
Carlos is quick to confirm that he has never been to Nigeria, nor does he have two jobs, working as a motivational speaker at night and an engineer during the day.
He also confirms that he is the man in the photos – and that his pictures must have been used by a “catfish”.
When asked if she believes what he’s saying, Gail reluctantly replies, “Well, I guess.”
dr Phil hits back: “What do you mean?
“We did a very deep dive … this man is not just someone whose background we haven’t checked.”
“He is known internationally as a motivational speaker.
“He is known all over the world, he has written six books and 13 audio books.”
Then asks Dr. Phil Carlos, who has written six books and 13 audiobooks, what he wants to say to Gail, who thought she had been dating him for four years.
“I’m very sorry and we have to be more careful and vigilant because there are a lot of people trying to cheat others,” he warns.
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