When Nicole Hayden first saw a photo of Alessandro Cinquini, she was instantly attracted to him.
But as far as she was aware, the handsome hunk who had caught her attention after sending her a private message on Instagram was called Marcus.
The mum-of-two from Palm Beach in Florida began regularly chatting to 'Marcus', who appeared to be a charming gentleman full of flattery, NY Post reports.
But before long, the 38-year-old says her suitor's love pitch seemed to escalate and he suggested the pair get married and spend Thanksgiving together - just a few weeks after they first began chatting.
She said: "At that point I knew it was some sort of scam. We barely knew each other. I just blocked him."
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Thinking she'd escaped Marcus's clutches, Nicole went about her life as normal - but then he reappeared in a WhatsApp message after somehow getting hold of her phone number.
This version of Marcus wasn't as flattering as his previous form and began making nasty threats.
When the pair had still been chatting on Instagram, Nicole had sent Marcus a photo of herself on the beach.
Now, he was threatening to photoshop the image into a nude photo, which he would make public if she didn't send him money.
Nicole claimed he even threatened to harm her children if she didn't give over £4,500 ($6,000) - but she stood firm and refused to comply with his demands.
Although she bravely stood her ground, Nicole was shaken by the incident - and when she saw a photo of Marcus a few months later, she felt startled.
However, this time the photo was attached to an account by the name Alessandro Cinquini - who was the real person behind the handsome photo.
Nicole said the fact Alessandro had a lot of followers and shared details about his life proved to her this was the real deal - so she decided to reach out to him.
To her surprise, he only lived an hour away from her in Miami - and he was well aware scammers were using his photos to take advantage of women. Whereas at first he tried to take action against people using his identity, he has now given up trying.
Nicole said: "He has hundreds of fake profiles attached to his name. It's crazy."
After connecting online, the pair decided to meet in person in January - and they hit it off immediately. They are now officially dating.
Nicole said she was wary of getting involved with Alessandro at first, given what happened the first time she got involved with the person she thought was him.
But now she says her new love is "amazing" and she's really excited to see what the future brings.
However, there are issues with dating a man whose photo is used so frequently by scammers.
Nicole said: "He’s been out to dinner and had an angry woman come up to him.
"They complain that he ghosted them, maybe some of them actually paid money to a scammer because of his profile. It’s a danger for him in the real world."
Do you have an experience with catfishing? Email jessica.taylor@reachplc.com
