It was a love story, not an investigation... or so I thought

After a dating fraudster stole her heart, Australian journalist Stephanie Wood wrote a best-selling book about his manipulation, gaslighting and lies. As her story is told in ITV drama Fake, she reveals how thousands of women have also fallen victim to relationship scams

- By Stephanie Wood

IT WAS on an online dating site that I met Joe back in 2014. He said he was a retired architect turned property developer. He told me he was divorced but still lived in the family home which he'd designed and built himself, boasting sweeping views over the beautiful Sydney Harbour.

Joe also said he had a little yacht moored at the bottom of his garden and that he shared custody of his children, though his wife's mental health problems made her unreliable. When she had the kids he said he escaped to his little sheep farm two hours south of the city, where he roughed it in a dilapidated shack. He was drawing up plans for a proper house.

Joe had a kooky sense of humour and seemed kind and decent. We kissed on our fourth date and he asked me to go away for a romantic weekend. I was hooked.

Not so long after that lovely weekend, Joe arrived at my place and pulled a tooth-brush from his pocket. "I'll leave this here," he said. One night in a whisper he told me he was thinking about "commitment".

A routine emerged: when his children were with their mother, Joe split his time between his farm and my apartment. He said his Sydney house was about to be remodelled and he'd packed everything up in boxes ahead of a temporary move.

He said the house held unhappy memories and for now he'd rather not be there.

We cooked together at my place or he took me out for lovely dinners at restaurants. I met his children. I was in heaven.

But another routine soon took over: his constant cancellations.

Joe had so many excuses. On the farm - broken fences and lost sheep and his dog bitten by a snake. At home - his wife failing to pick up the children, or his daughter getting an asthma attack or forgetting to tell him about a parent-teacher night at her school. In business, there were endless last-minute meetings.