Two women who dated notorious Bumble Swindler Cieran McNamara have revealed how they were sucked in by his web of lies – with one losing £10,000 to the fraudster.
McNamara, 37, from Coventry, Warwickshire, was jailed for seven years after using a string of false identities to dupe love interests out of £300,000.
He posed as a luxury property developer, entrepreneur and barrister to swindle four victims out of cash from September 2022 to when he was arrested one year later.
Detectives had ‘no doubt’ that other victims across Britain would have been targeted by McNamara and urged them to come forward when he was sentenced.
But since being jailed earlier this month, MailOnline has spoken to at least four other women who claim they too were tricked by McNamara, dating back to 2013.
Cieran McNamara, 37, from Coventry, who also went by the names Ciaran Griffin, Christian McNamara and Myles McNamara, was jailed for seven years
Emma (pictured) claims she lost £10,000 to McNamara after she met him on Plenty of Fish in 2013
A screenshot Emma shared with MailOnline of McNamara’s old dating profile from 2013
The con artist even claimed to be selling a property to Manchester’s mayor, Andy Burnham
The serial romance fraudster posed as a BA pilot, high-flying barrister and jet-setting DJ to con women out of a total of £300,000
Among his victims is a 43-year-old nurse from London, who lost £10,000 to the fraudster after matching with ‘Christian’ on the dating app Plenty of Fish.
A single mother, 40, from Birmingham, was also conned out of £3,200 by him in 2022 after he posed as a high-flying barrister.
Two more women have told MailOnline how they feared they were his next targets after matching with McNamara on dating apps and being told a pack of lies.
During one date, McNamara told his love interest 38, from Cheshire, that his name was Myles and he owned a large property portfolio – even boasting that he was selling a house to the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.
Another woman, 43, from London, thought she was dating a jet-setting DJ and was shocked to receive a letter from in prison and £1,000 bill for a gym membership.
The women also told similar stories of love and betrayal – how the handsome, smartly-dressed fraudster would start up relationships with them, claiming to have a glamorous job as a pilot, barrister or jet-setting DJ.
He would text them pictures of himself at mansions in London and Cheshire, as well as pictures of himself travelling first class across the world and staying at five-star hotels.
The conman would also bombard the women with gifts, weekends away and take them out for expensive meals.
One victim, Emma – not her real name – told MailOnline how she quickly hit it off with McNamara in 2013 after they matched on Plenty of Fish and he took her on a swish date in Mayfair, London.
But unknown to the nurse at the time, her dates with ‘Christian’ were just the start of an 11-year ordeal during which she claimed she lost £10,000 to the fraudster.
She said: ‘When we matched online, he told me that he was an up-and-coming singer in a band called General Direction.
‘He took me out for dinners and pretty soon we were dating.
‘He was very full on and would always want to come over, but at the end of the day it was fun at the time.’
But to her shock, Emma found out that the music McNamara claimed he wrote for the fake band General Direction was in fact by a different band called 10 Reasons to Live.
Emma later went on to message one of the members of 10 Reasons to Live to ask whether he had heard of McNamara, to which he responded: ‘Oh no, not this again.
‘Some lunatic that’s been around for years pretending he’s me or others out of our band or pretending he’s in a band.
‘Sorry he’s nothing to do with us, we have announced this a million times and reported him God knows how many times.’
McNamara told Emma he was in a band called General Direction and shared pictures of himself with her
McNamara shared soundbites to try and sell his story that he was the lead singer in a band called General Direction. The music was in fact by a band called 10 reasons
She explained that things started to get weird around a month into their relationship.
‘I walked into my flat and he was standing there, talking on the phone to his bank,’ she said.
‘He had what I now know was a complete pretend conversation saying he had been in a case of fraud and that they were freezing his assets.
‘He didn’t immediately ask me for money but I did offer – saying if you need any help let me know and I did end up lending him £100.’
Emma explained that soon after she had plans to go to Dubai to stay with a friend. At the same time, McNamara told her he was going to the United States to meet his father.
She said: ‘He sent me a message when he ‘was in America’ saying his credit card wasn’t working and if I could send him my card details to help him get a bit of cash – which I did.
‘He then out of the blue, suddenly turned up in Dubai!
‘I was visiting a friend and the whole thing just wasn’t right. My friend didn’t like him at all. It was quite an awkward week with him being there.’
When Emma got back to the UK, she realised that McNamara had bought his flight to Dubai with her credit card.
When Emma got back to the UK she realised that McNamara had bought his flight to Dubai with her credit card
Emma’s (pictured) story comes as a total of ten women – who said they were all victims of McNamara contacted MailOnline
A old screenshot shared by Emma of McNamara’s old Facebook profile, where he went by the name Christian D Griffin
‘He wouldn’t give it back. This is the point when I was getting really concerned. I knew what he was up to and called the police immediately,’ she said.
‘The police told me to keep dating him and to try and gather information on him myself.
‘He owed me £10,000 and I worked tirelessly with my dad to find out everything I could about him.
‘I knew about him stealing from his grandma, his real name, that he had been in prison for several months.’
The police told Emma they were upscaling the investigation before they arrested McNamara on suspicion of fraud.
He was jailed for 18 months in 2014 but Emma explained that the fraudster kept in contact with her until September 2022 – even sending her letters from prison.
She said: ‘For the first few years I would reply, asking him to repay the money but then I gave up.
‘I had to change my status on Facebook as he would say things like he had been watching me at work, even when I changed jobs.’
She shared an old message with MailOnline, from the fraudster, who wrote: ‘Babe, I’m sorry I lied to you really I am, it’s just hard to face up to the truth of what I’ve done with myself all these years.
A message that the conman sent Emma after McNamara realised she knew he was duping her
McNamara was jailed for 18 months in 2014 but Emma explained that the fraudster kept in contact with her until September 2022 – even sending her letters from prison
The defrauder told another woman he went to Eton and was in the same class as Prince William, despite the heir to the throne being four years older than him
‘I’ve travelled 131 miles because I love you. If I had to do this trip everyday just to be with you, I would as I love you.
‘I wouldn’t tell you another lie,’ followed by a kiss.
The Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service were contacted for comment but both said the case was too long ago to provide a statement.
One 38-year-old woman from Cheshire met Cieran McNamara on Bumble in 2022 and shared her insight on what it was like to date him exclusively with MailOnline.
Carla said he was very ‘full-on’ from the start and would shower her in compliments.
Carla, not her real name, lives in Cheshire and met Cieran McNamara when she was 37 years old on Bumble in 2022
She matched with him and said he was very ‘full-on’ from the start and would shower her in compliments
He introduced himself as Myles and would send her various pictures of himself in luxurious places, such as in hot tubs, at fancy cocktail bars and in lavish mansions.
On dates, the swindler told Carla to order ‘whatever she wanted’ adding one time: ‘The staff all know me in here so we’ll get the best service.’
‘When the bill came he pulled out this wallet and he’s got a big wad of cash in it, like £50 notes. Who does that these days? He practically threw the money at the waiter,’ Carla said.
The conman told Carla that his father lived in America and worked for Microsoft where he made millions from the job.
He said that he had an extensive property portfolio and even claimed to be selling a property to Manchester’s mayor, Andy Burnham.
He told a date he got married in his early twenties and that his wife had left him for another woman and moved to Australia with her
One woman who dated him, Carla, said: ‘I didn’t know at the time, but that wad of cash, those meals he paid for and the taxi was being funded by other women’
On one occasion, the conman sent Carla a picture of a train timetable board which he claimed was at Euston Station in London.
‘He sent me this picture but it was slightly blurred. It said delays, delays, cancelled, delays,’ she said.
‘I didn’t reply but then the next day he messaged saying he couldn’t get back and had to camp out at Birmingham Airport.
‘He didn’t ask me for any money, but I think he was testing me to see whether I would say “Is there anything I can do to help?”
‘Afterwards he told me he was falling for me, it was total love bombing.
‘That was literally after telling me he couldn’t get back from Euston, but yet camped out at Birmingham Airport.’
Following his arrest officers raided a lock-up being rented by McNamara where they recovered approximately £19,500 worth of brand new goods – including a £1,900 Burberry coat, a £400 Burberry Scarf, Dubarry boots, Gucci trainers and a Ping golf set
The conman told Carla that his father lived in America and worked for Microsoft where he made millions from the job
Carla added: ‘He didn’t get any money out of me. Not one single penny. However, when I was speaking to the police I said I felt an immense amount of guilt.
‘I didn’t know at the time, but that wad of cash, those meals he paid for and the taxi was being funded by other women.
‘It’s really horrible to think that somebody could just do that to people and I can see how these poor girls had been sucked into it.
‘He is the Tinder Swindler of Cheshire.’
Last week, two women, Danielle from Birmingham and Claire from London – also shared their stories exclusively with MailOnline.
Danielle, 40, was conned out of £3,200 by McNamara in 2022 after he posed as a high-flying barrister.
The single mother fell for the love rat when he claimed he too was going through a painful divorce.
She said: ‘It was all about building trust at first. He would listen all about my life, and be empathetic, supportive and caring.
‘We would do video calls and he would make me feel wanted, beautiful – he exploited the insecurities that his victims had. He was very manipulative.
‘He would use things that I had said about my life and twist them to fit his life. He told me he was going through a divorce – like he knew I had done.’
Danielle, 40, was conned out of £3,200 by McNamara in 2022 after he posed as a high-flying barrister.
Last week, two women, Danielle and Claire – not their real names – also shared their stories exclusively with MailOnline
But in April 2022, the dynamic of their relationship slowly started to change. Then the web of lies surrounding money started.
McNamara first contacted Danielle claiming to be in ‘a bit of a situation’, that he had been mugged and desperately needed cash to get the train home.
What started with £20 here and £30 there soon snowballed – and within the space of a month Christian owed Danielle more than £3,200.
She said: ‘He caught me at a very vulnerable time when my sister was ill in hospital. I had just come out of a long-term relationship. He took advantage of my kind nature.’
At one point, she was forced to cancel her daughter’s birthday party because she couldn’t afford it.
Danielle continued: ‘He came up with lots of excuses as to why he couldn’t repay me.
‘It started with he didn’t have a bank card and wanted to give me the money in person and apologised for the inconvenience.
‘As time progressed, he said it was down to an expensive divorce.
‘We arranged to meet six or seven times so he would repay the money in person, but he never showed up.’
Danielle contacted West Midlands Police about McNamara in August 2022, but she was ‘fobbed off’ and told to report the crime to Action Fraud.
She said: ‘I found lots of evidence against him myself and I was ready to give it all to the police… but I was fobbed off.
‘I had two police officers come around to my house when my children were there and say this isn’t fraud. But I knew exactly what it was.
‘The most infuriating thing about this whole situation is that if the police had listened to me then none of this would have happened – those women who did manage to bring charges would never have lost all that money.’
A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: ‘We were contacted by a woman in August of 2022 who had been the victim of a fraud by a man she had met on a dating website.
‘Details were taken from the woman and based on the information she was able to give us, she was advised to contact Action Fraud.’
Claire was under the impression she had just met a jet-setting Ibiza DJ named James who had whisked her off her feet.
She had no idea she would in fact become the conman’s last victim after he had rinsed his other victims out of a total of £300,000.
McNamara promised to buy Claire, his last victim, a flat in Canary Wharf as he had an extensive property portfolio in London and kept spoiling her with £500 Marks & Spencer vouchers
‘DJ Sneak’ treated her to the ‘best’ ten days of her life, including dinners at The Ivy and trips to see her in his private jet.
The pair met on Bumble at the beginning of last September with McNamara claiming he was a world-wide DJ currently based in Ibiza.
Not long after, he said he would jet over from the Spanish island to meet her, and the couple’s whirlwind romance began.
Claire said: ‘Our chats on Bumble quickly moved over to WhatsApp and before I knew it, he was saying that he couldn’t wait to see me.
‘He certainly was a charmer and knew all the right things to say. We got on really well – almost too well.
‘He came across as the most amazing guy – I can really understand why all these women thought they had met their “Prince Charming”. For two weeks he “wined and dined” me – brunches, champagne, everything!’
He also promised to buy Claire a flat in Canary Wharf as he had an extensive property portfolio in London and kept spoiling her with £500 Marks & Spencer vouchers.
Claire, not her real name, (pictured) was under the impression she had just met a jet-setting Ibiza DJ named James who had whisked her off her feet
She said: ‘He kept saying he wanted me to be financially secure. At the end of the day I opened him up to my world and I really trusted him.’
But suddenly McNamara went quiet.
For a few days, Claire heard nothing but then she received a letter. A letter from HMP Altcourse in Liverpool dated September 30.
It read: ‘Sorry I just disappeared – it wasn’t by choice. It appears I have a few outstanding bills totalling £296,000.
‘On Thursday night (September 28) I had a rude awakening by police saying there was a warrant out for my arrest.’
It continued: ‘Nothing has changed in my mind about you and I have missed you and your touch in the last 72 hours.
‘I have been deemed a flight risk to the police based on my comings and goings out of the UK and for that reason I have been remanded in custody until the matter is resolved.’
McNamara had just bought Claire an expensive membership at a wellness club in London and she was suddenly left with a £1,000 bill.
Looking back, Claire said there were a few red flags – but nothing that immediately raised her suspicions.
Claire was shocked when McNamara disappeared out of the blue – then she received a letter from HMP Altcourse
‘He would insist on going up to pay the bill and he also always had two phones on him – but I just thought he was a busy businessman,’ she said.
The Mail also revealed that McNamara’s first victim was in fact the grandmother who raised him.
He fleeced Kathleen O’Sullivan out of around £60,000 after repeatedly withdrawing money from her bank account and raiding a wardrobe where she stashed cash at home.
A relative said the fraudster had a ‘remarkable ability to remember long numbers’ which he also used to memorise his grandmother’s bank card numbers – using them to pay for hotels around the country where he lived the high life.
The grandmother took him in because McNamara’s own mother, who had health problems, could not control him.
Only child McNamara (pictured age 15) grew up in Coventry, where his half-Polish mother, Christine Ostrowski, almost died giving birth to him
The grandmother took him in because McNamara’s own mother, who had health problems, could not control him. He fleeced Kathleen O’Sullivan out of £60,000
But around the same time, the conman also began stealing from the Catholic church where he was taken by Mrs O’Sullivan.
The ‘horrified’ pensioner only discovered what was happening at her beloved church in Binley, Coventry, when the priest came around to tell her that McNamara, one of the altar boys at the church, had been caught helping himself to the contents of the collection box.
A relative said: ‘He was taken to the police station by his uncle who asked officers to put the fear of God in to him. They chucked him in a cell for a few hours in the hope it would teach him a lesson and Cieran spent that time crying his eyes out apparently. He was only 14 or so at the time.
‘But it clearly didn’t work and we don’t have anything to do with him these days.
‘Cieran was never violent, but he was always a thief, even as a boy.’
McNamara was arrested in September last year following an investigation by Cheshire Police in Colchester.
He was subsequently charged with four counts of fraud by false representation.
Following his arrest officers raided a lock-up being rented by McNamara where they recovered approximately £19,500 worth of brand new goods – including a £1,900 Burberry coat, a £400 Burberry Scarf, Dubarry boots, Gucci trainers and a Ping golf set.
Sentencing him to seven years in prison, Judge Simon Berkson said McNamara’s criminal record was a significant aggravating factor, with many similar offences in the past.
Detective Constable Victoria Hazlewood, of Cheshire Police, who led the investigation, said: ‘McNamara is a serial fraudster, and I truly believe he cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy.
‘During our investigation, we uncovered a web of lies with thousands of text messages which he sent to his victims in order to extort cash to fund his lavish lifestyle.
‘He convinced his victims that he was a millionaire with properties across the country, but in reality, he was unemployed and living out of suitcase.
McNamara was subsequently charged with four counts of fraud by false representation
Sentencing him to seven years in prison, Judge Simon Berkson said McNamara’s criminal record was a significant aggravating factor, with many similar offences in the past
‘McNamara identified ways he could control and manipulate his victims and throughout the investigation, he has shown no remorse for his actions.
‘He truly believed that he would never be caught by police and that he would never be held accountable for his despicable behaviour.
‘Thankfully, because of the courage and bravery of his victims, and the work of the team here in the economic crime unit at Cheshire Constabulary, McNamara was left with no option other than to admit his guilt.
‘While he is now behind bars, I have no doubt that there are other victims across the country who have been treated in the same way and I would encourage them to come forward.
‘If you believe that you have been targeted by a romance fraudster, or you believe somebody close to you has been targeted, then please contact Action Fraud so you can begin to get the necessary support and prevent other people from becoming victims.’
‘Efforts to locate other assets belonging to McNamara remain ongoing and all the items recovered will be subject to a proceeds of crime hearing.’
*At their request, the names of the women in this article have been changed.
