Mel Greig files police complaint over scam-artist lover

Mel Greig says she was duped by her live-in lover into handing over cash which she never saw again.

The radio host has now filed a complaint with police over James Harold Yates' alleged deception and fraud, after, she says, he tricked her into "lending" him $1,000 because he said his bank account had been hacked and $15,000 taken.

“The next day he was in tears because he couldn’t afford to pay the $1000 owing to his solicitor for his court case which was scheduled for the next day,” she told News Corp.

“He puts in so much effort and he lures you in so easily.”

After giving James the money, Mel said she didn't hear from him despite her attempts to find out what was happening. It has since emerged that James's court case was, in fact, over charges he assaulted an ex-girlfriend a month before Mel met him.

A string of other women have now come forward alleging the former media sales professional "borrowed" money from them with no intention of ever repaying.

According to Ms Grieg’s and other women’s accounts, Mr Yates had a specific modus operandi when it came to dating: add a woman on Facebook or Instagram, start up a conversation, progress to a first date and suddenly “discover” your bank account has been hacked.

A Sydney doctor who remains unnamed said she had two dates with James before he asked her for money.

“I was aghast at his terrible luck,” she told News Corp. “When he asked to borrow some money to tide him over until he could get some money off his dad who lived out of town, I did so without hesitation.”

Here, in her own words, Mel explains how something like this could happen to you too.

A few weeks ago I shared a story about how I had been scammed by a lover and some of the feedback was “How?” or “Surely you aren’t that stupid?” or “I knew it, told you so”.

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Firstly, if you have someone close to you that has been scammed, don’t say any of those things. Don’t you think they are feeling enough blame and guilt themselves? It’s embarrassing for some to open up and admit they’ve been scammed and people automatically assume that is must be because the victim is “un-educated” or “desperate” and that is not the case.

It turns out the guy that scammed me is a professional scammer and an overall douche bag and he has fooled the best of them. In fact, I’ve heard other scamming stories from a doctor, detective, therapist and sales manager. All highly educated women, one of which is trained to catch the scammers and she too was scammed.

How? Because narcissists are professional liars. Without a doubt, this guy is not only an addict but a narcissist too. He nails the first impression, he puts everything into that first encounter to hook you in, and he’s so good at it. He will have you, your friends and your family eating out of the palm of his hand the first time he meets you. But it unravels very quickly from there.

He didn’t feel any empathy or emotion to anyone but himself. He would lie, manipulate and make excuses to get out of every situation - and there were a lot it. He was a path of destruction. Once he had what he wanted out of you, he would instantly move onto his next target without another thought.

He had a high paying job and tried to maintain an appearance of importance and wealth. This helped with the scamming because he didn’t look like a functioning addict that was about to rip you off. He appeared very confident and sure of himself, and he’s told his lies that many times that he actually believes it’s reality.

Narcissists can make you feel crazy. Convince you to override your gut instincts. They need to have control and they’ll find any way to control you and your emotions. To the people reading this going “Oh yeah, whatever, that won’t happen to me, it happened to you because you’re gullible”, I used to think like you. When you are an outsider looking in, it seems to be black and white, but don’t be so quick to judge until you have been in that situation looking into the eyes of a narcissist and addict, someone who will do whatever it takes to get what they want and they will use every trick in the book.

There is still a lot more of this journey to come out but for now; If you meet a guy called James who says his bank account has been hacked, that he needs somewhere to stay in-between places and that he’s going through a hard time and just needs to get back on track - steer clear. When he's found his next victim he'll block you on social media and you'll never hear from him again.

To be continued…

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