Love Bombed

Vicky Pattison wonders what it would take to stop Ray MacDonald offending, after his seven jail sentences imposed to-date, across two decades.

Vicky looks at the court system and its limitations, laws surrounding dating apps and asks whether there’s anything that could prevent Ray from pursuing the women he targets.

Love Bombed: WifeHunter presented by Vicky Pattison.

Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

Ray McDonald agrees to an interview after being rumbled using dating apps under a false name.

Meanwhile, Vicky catches up with some of the women whose lives have been turned upside down by Ray and discovers why it’s so hard for victims of romance fraud to rebuild their lives.

Love Bombed: WifeHunter presented by Vicky Pattison.

Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

Ray McDonald is out of prison. He’s already broken his restraining order banning him from dating apps and is on a website posing as “Rob from York”.

Vicky’s production team arrange a date with his latest alter ego.

They witness first-hand the tried and tested love bombing techniques that Ray has used for years before finally confronting him.

Love Bombed: WifeHunter presented by Vicky Pattison.

Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

Vicky Pattison explores Ray McDonald’s past, asking those who know him best why they think he has spent decades scamming people.

Vicky asks whether time spent in the army may have given Ray the skills to be a better conman and hears how his refusal to deal with any fallout from his lies has affected his family life.

Love Bombed: WifeHunter presented by Vicky Pattison.

Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

As the extent of Ray McDonald’s repeat offending starts to become clear, Vicky discovers he has been released from his latest sentence.

Vicky hears from Susan who went to school with Ray McDonald in County Durham. She grew up with him but that didn’t stop him from ruining her life.

Love Bombed: WifeHunter presented by Vicky Pattison.

Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

Vicky Pattison meets Caroline, who lost her home after matching with prolific romance fraudster Raymond McDonald on a dating site.

McDonald was posing as Mark Swift, a stressed-out chef with a seriously ill daughter. Within six months he had proposed, emptied Caroline’s bank account and left her with suspected PTSD.

Caroline was in court when McDonald was sent to prison for defrauding her and three other women.

Left to rebuild her life, she assumed he’d learnt his lesson - she’s about to find out just how wrong she was.

Love Bombed: WifeHunter presented by Vicky Pattison.

Lovebombed was made at BBC Radio Newcastle for BBC Sounds.

Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

Vicky Pattison uncovers one the UK’s most disturbing and prolific Lovebombers, Raymond McDonald.

Discover how one man has been able to repeatedly invent new personas online and use them to scam unsuspecting women for more than twenty years.

Despite a court ban he is still on dating apps and talking to women. One of them is us.

Have you been love bombed? Tell us your story at [email protected].

Credits:

Lovebombed was made at BBC Radio Newcastle for BBC Sounds.

Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

Vicky Pattison talks to author Becky Holmes who has turned the tables on scammers who pretend to be celebrities.

They attempt to contact “Elon Musk” and recreate conversations with “Mick Jagger” and “Keanu Reeves” - all spelling and grammatic errors are the fraudsters own.

If you have been affected by a scam or fraud, there's help available via bbc.co.uk/actionline on the 'Fraud & Scams" page.

Statements from platforms featured:

Instagram say that accounts that impersonate someone else are against their Community Guidelines and they remove them when brought to their attention. They say that they have added extra protections to the user’s genuine Facebook and Instagram accounts designed to tackle account impersonation. They say they don’t allow fraudulent activity and work closely with law enforcement to support investigations.

X(formerly Twitter) say Impersonation is a violation of their rules. They say that you may not misappropriate the identity of individuals, groups, or organizations or use a fake identity to deceive others. They say when they receive an impersonation report, they will investigate the reported account to determine if it violates the X Rules. Accounts determined to be in violation of their Misleading and Deceptive identities policy will either be suspended or asked to update the account(s) so they no longer violate their policies.

Presenter: Vicky Pattison.

A passionate love affair, a clash of cultures, was Michelle's relationship really a romance fraud?

Have you been love-bombed? Tell us your story at [email protected].

Visit bbc.co.uk/actionline for help and support on issues raised in this series.

A lockdown friendship sent Suzanne and her business into a spin.