A 61-year-old woman who said she fell in love with a 26-year-old Egyptian toyboy called off the relationship after bringing up that she'd spent thousands of pounds on him.
Jacqueline Dube met her former fiancé on TikTok and says they spoke every day despite being 35 years apart in age and 2,500 miles apart in distance.
They spoke for 16 months before she flew to meet him and she said they told each other they were in love, when she made a second trip he proposed but while they were planning a wedding she started getting doubts and called it off.
When Jacqueline realised she'd spent £4,000 on the much younger man she started regretting the relationship, and when she brought up the money she was spending on him things fell apart.
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She said she now sees 'what people warned me about', and that she's been left in debt over the whole thing.
"I thought he saw me for who I was. He told me he loved me to the moon and back. He made me feel special and wanted. Now I know that I don’t have what I thought I had," Jacqueline said.
"I ask myself, ‘why did I do this?’. You can't help who you love, but I blame myself. I should never have got on that plane."
The 61-year-old explained she'd been on TikTok live with her niece when the man joined the group call and told her she was 'beautiful', with her thinking it was 'harmless' to swap numbers with the guy and keep talking on WhatsApp.
After just a few messages he told her he liked 'older women'.
They messaged for months and she met his family over a video call, and before they'd even met in person he'd told them he was going to marry Jacqueline.
In September 2025 she booked a flight to visit him and his family for eight days in Egypt.
She said: "I would smell his smell, sometimes we'd lie together hugging. We would listen to music together. I started to get closer to him, the kissing got better and the sex got better.
"Everyone from his family travelled from afar to meet me."
She and the family went for meals and boat trips with her offering to pay for many of the experiences, and while she initially thought 'what have I done?' she said they got 'closer' over time.
"He would always tell me 'I love you, I adore you' - and swear to Allah that he loved me," she said.
A couple of months later she booked another flight to Egypt, finding her man had rented a limo and bought flowers to greet her, while he also proposed during that trip and they started planning their wedding.
When she returned to the UK she realised she'd spent £4,000 on this man and his family, and the relationship went awry when she brought up the financial concerns which resulted in her thinking it wasn't going to work out.
Jacqueline said she 'still cries thinking I'll never see him again' but wouldn't go back to him if she had the chance.
She said: "I'm in debt. I've not been able to pay my bills. I developed some sort of weird attachment to him after being on my own for 10 years.
"I wanted to prove to people that they were wrong about us and about him. When people told me not to go and see him, I didn't listen. Now I see what people warned me about."
When approached for comment the Egyptian man said: "This woman is crazy."
Topics: UK News, World News, Sex and Relationships
Joe Harker