Maria Grette was alarmed to discovered that the “58-year-old Danish man” with whom she had fallen in love was actually a 24-year-old Nigerian. The lady who she had gone through a traumatic divorce had started a relationship with her assumed lover.

She was  unable to place his accent and then he told her that he was planning for his retirement; had Sweden in mind for a place to settle; owned a house in Denmark inherited from his parents; wanted to leave that to his son, Nick, who was very attached to it, while he looked for a new home for himself in Sweden.

“I wanted to meet him because I liked him,” she said. “He had a way and a sweetness I had never known in a man before. And he was innocent in a way that puzzled me.” Johnny called to let her know that he was at Heathrow Airport. And to say that he had landed in Nigeria. He also got her to speak with Nick. The next phone call was to tell her that he was in a Lagos hospital.

They had been mugged, his son shot in the head, and they were without money and papers. Unfortunately, his bank did not have a branch in Africa, he added, so it would take time to transfer money from his UK account. Meanwhile, the hospital management was requesting €1000 to proceed with treatment. After paying the money she realized that something was wrong and stop communicating.

The boy had to confessed when he knew that the game was up because he has fallen in love with her. “He said he had never met anyone like me before, that he had been fighting his feelings for me for a long time. He said his scamming mates had warned him about falling in love with a ‘client’, that he had ignored them because he trusted me and did not want to lose contact with me.”

She finally came to Nigeria to see him and ended up taking out of Nigeria for a better life.