HONEYTRAP conwoman Neelam Desai has been tricking a man out of huge sums of cash despite being on bail and using the police to try and hamper our investigation into her.
Amar, a 32-year-old from west London, has passed the Advertiser extensive evidence showing how he was conned out of £17,176 since being contacted by Desai, posing as another woman, on Asian marriage website Shaadi.com on January 6.
Desai's swindle included pretending to raise money for a children's charity and that a friend needed £1,900 to fund life-saving surgery for a sick child.
Amar, who asked to be known by his first name, is the fourth victim to have approached us since our investigation began last month.
That investigation has prompted a police inquiry and, this week, Desai was arrested on suspicion of defrauding ten people by false representation dating back to October 2009.
Amar has handed the Advertiser a transcript of his entire conversation with Desai – whom he knew as Rima Vaghela – on mobile messaging service WhatsApp.
It shows he was sent hundreds of messages from a mobile phone number Desai, of Beulah Grove, Selhurst, gave the Press Complaints Commission when protesting our stories.
In an exclusive interview this week, Desai admitted ringing the Advertiser and pretending to be her cousin.
Having been unmasked, Desai denied involvement in the Shaadi.com scams and said she admitted a series of other frauds because she "wanted to do the right thing".
However, the WhatsApp transcript shows that on the morning Desai pleaded guilty to those offences at Croydon Crown Court on March 3, she contacted Amar and asked for more money.
It also shows that Desai continued her scams while complaining to police that the Advertiser's chief reporter Gareth Davies was "persecuting" her, following two politely worded e-mails listing her victims' claims.
That led three police officers to visit our offices and hand Mr Davies a formal warning that he could be arrested for "harassment".
The threat prompted condemnation from media and human rights groups, but Desai's scams have continued despite the attention of the national media.
It was the Advertiser's stories that led Amar to realise he had been the victim of a four-month scam, after he searched online for "Rima Vaghela".
That name, also used in at least two other virtually identical scams on Shaadi.com, was adopted by Desai when she first contacted Amar on January 6.
Like all the victims we spoke to, he was almost immediately offered the chance to buy discounted items, such as iPhones and Currys vouchers.
Rima said the gifts had been donated to the hospital where she was a pharmacist and were being auctioned as part of her "endless" charity work, in this case for The Children's Society.
Amar handed over £1,000 for various items, including Nando's vouchers, believing the money was going to a good cause. He never received the goods.
On February 2, "Rima" asked him for a "small favour" – £1,900 for a "friend" who needed the money to fund treatment for an African child who had supposedly been flown to the US for life-saving surgery.
The fraudster claimed she had transferred the cash herself, but it would not arrive in time. She pleaded that, if he paid the money into the same account she claimed was connected to The Children's Society, she would repay him. After Amar transferred the cash, she messaged him: "You helped save a life."
A Children's Society spokeswoman declined to comment this week other than to say the charity would be contacting the police.
The three previous victims who we spoke to were all sent the same photographs of a woman who we have identified as the wife of a man who was in the same year as Desai at Croydon's John Ruskin College.
However, the photo sent to Amar was of a different woman, who has yet to be traced.
The vast majority of his cash was obtained by his internet girlfriend pretending she wanted to go on lavish holidays with him to Barcelona and Las Vegas.
He paid, at times thinking she was meeting her half, but the bill rocketed as she claimed to "upgrade" the trips, only to cancel them – and his constant attempts to meet in person – at the last minute, claiming she was sick or her aunt had died.
In total Amar handed over £17,176 from his savings before telling her he had run out of money.
After reading about the other cases on our website, Amar realised he had been conned and called the Advertiser. He was still in contact with "Rima" as recently as Tuesday afternoon.
He said: "I went onto Shaadi.com to find a soul mate. I thought it was great that I had finally found someone I had so much in common with.
"I saved every penny I had for the last ten years and most of that money is now gone.
"If this woman had turned out to be genuine then it would have been worth it, because I would have found someone to spend the rest of my life with.
"But the last four months have been a lie. I feel disgusted. What an utter waste of time and money."
TIMELINE: How Amar was tricked out of £17,176CONWOMAN'S LAST-DITCH PLEA NEELAM Desai called her latest victim this week and pleaded with him not to contact the Advertiser. The fraudster – whom he knows as Rima Vaghela – had agreed to meet Amar in person on Monday in order to return the £17k he is owed to him. But, like all of their arrangements since they first spoke in January, she cancelled with very little notice. That afternoon Amar called her, telling his internet girlfriend that he had Googled "Rima Vaghela" and discovered articles on our the Advertiser's website, which said the name was being used by Desai to commit fraud against men she met through Shaadi.com. Rima said there was "no way" she was Desai and claimed she it was herself who had been the victim of identity fraud. She was unaware that an Advertiser reporter was recording the conversation to confirm that the voice on the phone was the same person who has called the paper on numerous times occasions claiming to be Desai's "cousin", when in fact she is Desai herself. At first "Rima" pretended never to have heard of Neelam Desai or the articles, but then told Amar her identity had been stolen. "I told you someone was using my details to do fraudulent stuff," she said. "I've reported it to the police and they are looking into it, but they told me to be careful who I tell. "Honestly, I would never do something like that to you. I'm not like that. "I knew something was going on, but I didn't know it was this bad." Desai asked Amar whether he had contacted the police and how much he had told his family, but seemed particularly interested in making sure he had not called the Advertiser. The travel agent-turned-trickster said: "Have you contacted the guy who has written the stories? I don't want you to ring the paper or mention me. I wouldn't do something [that] bad to someone. I wouldn't start selling stories about someone unless I knew the truth." Desai added: " If you have a little bit of care, a little bit of trust in me, then let me sort this out. I will pay you back." Desai promised to pay Amar back by 1pm Tuesday (April 15) but he has yet to receive any money. She has since cut off contact with him.