Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Am I being unreasonable to want to hold this woman to account?

209 replies

VickyPollard25 · 14/07/2024 18:45

I met a man on Bumble. He pushed me into a relationship pretty quickly (a matter of weeks and he was wanting to get married). I was mid-divorce and would usually be stronger and have my wits about me, but was quite vulnerable with all that was going on. He ambushed me into meeting his kids - ie. Date at his place and suddenly they turn up unexpectedly to me (they don’t live at his home as they are older - he is much older than me). So many red flags and I felt unsettled. Out of the blue he goes to Hong Kong for work. He messages me a strange message saying he suddenly feels very protective of me. It was odd. He gets back and tells me he caught up with an “old friend” who says she knows me and warned him about me. Apparently she had a lot of terrible things to say, hence him feeling protective. 🙄 He tells me she says I am from the wrong side of the tracks (my parents are dirt poor, I went to the wrong schools and a bad university, etc), I have no friends and my job is a joke. This is a summary - she also commented on things based on personal info you could find out if you internet stalked me. I was actually quite devastated to hear all this. I pushed him for this friend’s details and it turns out that it wasn’t an old friend of his, but another woman he had met online and had been dating. She had never met me and I’d never heard of her. He told me he told her that he couldn’t see her anymore because he had met someone and gave her all my details. They looked up my Linked In profile together… Absolutely appalling behaviour by him.

I’m reeling from the idea that someone would say these things about someone she’s never met. I’ve skimmed over it but they are really hurtful nasty things that she’s invented. I’ve never come across anything like it. He defended her, saying she had was in her 40s and had never had a serious relationship and after several miscarriages was looking for a sperm donor and he had offered.

This was drip fed to me after a lot of lying. Then it turns out this woman has called my work (an international bank) to reach out to former colleagues of hers to pass on terrible things about me.

Clearly he has stirred up a lot of trouble and deserved to be binned. But what about her? Is this crazy behaviour or what? I feel I can’t just leave it.

Am I being unreasonable to want to hold her to account for calling my work and making about blatant lies about me?

OP posts:
Feelinadequate23 · 17/07/2024 10:56

OP, this is a huge amount of drama, which you definitely don't need after going through a divorce.

My advice to you: 1) block her (if you even know her name) and forget she exists. She either doesn't exist or is a random stranger who shouldn't be taking up any headspace. 2) dump and block this guy. He is giving off red flags left, right and centre. Save yourself from this weirdo and take the time to work on yourself before getting involved with anyone else.

Best of luck OP.

DecoratingDiva · 17/07/2024 10:53

F

RachTheAlpaca · 17/07/2024 10:50

Please report this to the police! Absolute nutters the pair of them

DearDenimEagle · 17/07/2024 09:53

VickyPollard25 · 15/07/2024 09:39

I do think she exists because he showed me a bunch of what’s app messages between them. She seems very desperate.

But now you’ve made me think. What if he created a fake person and it’s all some massive mindf*ck? It didn’t occur to me that someone would just make all this up. This guy is in his 50s!!!!

Mine was in his 50s. He’s no better in his 70s. They get worse as they get older because it’s harder to ensnare as they lose their looks and hair, put on weight, have health issues and they fear…I mean are terrified…of being alone.

DearDenimEagle · 17/07/2024 09:46

VickyPollard25 · 15/07/2024 06:17

Thank you. This is exactly right. I really feel it has had a hugely negative impact on my mental health.

I reached out to a counsellor for him because I thought he needed help managing his “narcissistic” ex wife. Can you believe it? Such an idiot. The counsellor spoke to me for an hour and suggested I take up therapy myself as it’s not my role to try and arrange it for someone else, and I really need support to exit this situation and work through why I was able to be manipulated into it in the first place. She thinks he sound like he is exhibiting narcissistic behaviours himself…

The therapist is correct. Manipulation, deception, gaslighting, projection, multiple women , playing the victim..re ex wife…she’s the one I feel sorry for.

DearDenimEagle · 17/07/2024 09:41

VickyPollard25 · 15/07/2024 06:19

Re the sperm donor thing - So he says. He showed me text messages where she is angrily saying “You are the one who offered to make a donation!” So he has no respect for her privacy or anything else that went on between them. It’s all just worse than the worst horror movie.

His showing you that message…are you sure she was referring to a sperm donation? It could have been a cash donation he reneged on and he’s manipulating to his supposed advantage. If there’s a woman phoning work etc, I’d lay odds she has been manipulated by him too. I’ve married a guy much like this. You can’t believe what they say..they lie even if they don’t need to and they manipulate everybody. The speed of a relationship to proposal is a huge red flag. I said no for over a year, so he had to pretend to be nice and work on the con a long time for him lol, but really, you are doing well to get rid from your life. Now you have to get him out of your head. That’s not easy but it is important. The dating sites are full of these narcissistic people hunting for prey to feed their egos. Remember the red flags. Listen to your gut. Don’t take anything at face value.

T1Dmama · 17/07/2024 09:39

I would also be worried that if she is real ‘the donation’ she spoke about was in fact money rather than sperm….
maybe he was hoping to get your money from your house and give her a chunk of it so she could have a baby with him…
The discussions about you selling your house etc rings alarms bells of possible fraud?!…. Was he planning on doing a runner with your money?!out of interest how did he react to you dumping him? You say you met his kids?? What were they like?

T1Dmama · 17/07/2024 09:30

Sorry just caught up on your updates… please report to the police! If he did date her at some point and is now pretending she’s harassing / stalking you to cover the fact that it’s actually him stalking/harassing you… then he could do the same to someone else and use pictures of you he took during your short time together to harass her! He could already be working on his next victim and months from now show her pictures of you and claim you’re mental and calling her place of work etc!!
Please inform the police of this. Get it recorded that you suspect he’s stolen an identity to harass you and are worried he could do the same to another woman using your identity!! At least then when his next victim calls the police to report YOU, they’ll have a record of your statement!
You do very much need to report this creep .. I bet if you reached out to the ex wife he’s done this before .. I bet he stalked her using other people to hide behind!

Please don’t beat yourself up over this, you were vulnerable and he preyed on you, this isn’t your fault and is a lesson learnt for the future, we all make mistakes and we become wiser because of them!

The only thing I would suggest though encase he actually is a serial dater, is to maybe get screened for sexually transmitted diseases. Sorry don’t want to worry you, but I would want to give myself that peace of mind

T1Dmama · 17/07/2024 08:36

This man clearly went out there to sleep with her, he sounds like an utter creep!
I would report the stalking to the police and give any details about both her and him that you have, message him and tell him you don’t want him to ever contact you again and if he does call the police! Stalking is a serious crime and he’s clearly not a nice person… I’d message the woman and simply tell her he’s all hers and to leave you alone, then block… I would strongly suspect that she too is a-victim of his love bombing & it’s likely he did all the stalking and just got her to do the dirty work, I would assume he’s coerced her too!
Dump him ASAP. Don’t do it in person in private as i think he is potentially very dangerous!! If you meet him in a public place don’t drink encase he spikes it!!
I’d be tempted with someone like this to simply call him and tell him over the phone!… RECORD THE CONVERSATION encase he makes threats.. and if he does go to the police! Then DO NOT open the door to this man and keep your doors locked! He sounds like a narcissistic psycho

VickyPollard25 · 17/07/2024 08:31

Jeclop · 17/07/2024 08:26

And this is how you know he made the woman up. It's highly unlikely her WhatsApp picture and linkedin one will be the same.
He took her picture from LinkedIn and created her WhatsApp account. No one uses the same photo

The photos were not the same, but I think the advice to just put all this behind me and not think about either of them (fictional or not) is excellent.

OP posts:
Jeclop · 17/07/2024 08:26

VickyPollard25 · 15/07/2024 11:48

This woman was head of HR for a bank in HK. He didn’t give me her home address (I didn’t ask), but her Linked In corresponded to what he said, and her what’s app photo matched her Linked In one.

And this is how you know he made the woman up. It's highly unlikely her WhatsApp picture and linkedin one will be the same.
He took her picture from LinkedIn and created her WhatsApp account. No one uses the same photo

darthbreakz · 17/07/2024 04:58

Whoa! I would put that all in a file marked NO! and never look back tbh. This is all about a couple of boundryless nutjobs and you don't need to entertain these people a moment longer.

If you have evidence that she's called your collegues, call the police and let them deal with it. That's harassment. They probably can't do anything but it'll be on file should she continue.

Don't engage, deal with your feelings and never speak to either of them again.

ElizaJ74 · 16/07/2024 21:57

NoToMinglingHappilySingleIThink · 14/07/2024 18:57

Smells like a contrived situation he is creating to keep you on hook. I am sorry OP I think you are being gaslit and catfished at the same time. Just get rid

This, absolutely this!!

Lyoness1953 · 16/07/2024 21:47

You are being set up for a scam!!!

JoBrandsCleaner · 16/07/2024 20:52

You know she’s not real don’t you? Also he’s a lunatic. But you should fully understand his point of view, he needs to follow this imaginary friends advice and leave you alone, for your sake!

CountessWindyBottom · 16/07/2024 20:42

God you poor thing @VickyPollard25, how terrifying.

I really agree with the therapist who said you should invest in therapy yourself. There was no way you could have envisaged how this would unfold but there were so many red flags that, for whatever reasons, you ignored. This is in no way to victim blame but you are clearly quite vulnerable at the moment and consequently not making the best decisions re your own well-being. I also think it will be a useful way for you to process a traumatic and extremely bizarre situation.

Prioritise your own well-being for now and thank goodness this awful man is no longer in your life: Take care xx

EMUKE · 16/07/2024 20:08

Take it as a life lesson well learnt. I’m glad you're now safe as iv heard these sort of people can groom their victims for months/years chipping away slowly. IMO start afresh forget her and him. by the sounds of it everyone who needs to know about him/her do so already and are aware of the situation. You don't know what was said or implied to this "other" women (even if shes real). iv heard many a story of someone almost starting a "bidding" war. sim cards are easy to pick up and downloading watsapp is free. you have to question EVERYTHING that was ever shown to you or spoken about. Anyway you have to let it go all of it. sending love

BlueFlowers5 · 16/07/2024 19:28

He's trying to demoralise you to perhaps gain control OP.

I'd suggest no more contact.

MayNov · 16/07/2024 19:25

I don’t think she exists and he sounds riddled with a very nasty amalgam of personality disorders and quite dangerous. Please be careful.

Toptops · 16/07/2024 19:06

Run the other way fast!

littleorchard45 · 16/07/2024 18:41

He sounds truly awful! Glad you have binned him.

VickyPollard25 · 16/07/2024 17:52

WiddlinDiddlin · 16/07/2024 13:30

Yeah, no way is this woman real...

Two scenarios here...

1 - He meets, at exactly the right time, a woman as utterly evil and batshit as him, who he can convince to stalk and harrass you...

2 - He finds a likely looking account on LinkedIn, nicks the photo, uses it to stick on a WhatsApp account on his spare phone and then has some 'conversations' between his own account and this invented one so he can show you 'proof' she exists.

The latter set up is mere minutes of work, the rest of what he has told you, all the details are googleable or pure invention... easy peasy and its worked to really freak you out and wobble your head.

This would make a great movie plot.

OP posts:
waterrat · 16/07/2024 13:32

christ isn't it obvoius the woman isn't real.

WiddlinDiddlin · 16/07/2024 13:30

Yeah, no way is this woman real...

Two scenarios here...

1 - He meets, at exactly the right time, a woman as utterly evil and batshit as him, who he can convince to stalk and harrass you...

2 - He finds a likely looking account on LinkedIn, nicks the photo, uses it to stick on a WhatsApp account on his spare phone and then has some 'conversations' between his own account and this invented one so he can show you 'proof' she exists.

The latter set up is mere minutes of work, the rest of what he has told you, all the details are googleable or pure invention... easy peasy and its worked to really freak you out and wobble your head.

meganorks · 15/07/2024 23:06

I've read all your updates but still think she isn't real.
You haven't actually confirmed that anyone has called the guy at your work, just that he is a real guy because you found him on LinkedIn...as could nutter bloke.
You said the pictures matched on the LinkedIn profile of this woman and her WhatsApp. Do you mean exact same picture? Because people don't tend to use the same picture on both. They can of course but a nutter who set up a fake WhatsApp would probably use the LinkedIn pic.
You also said this whole thing came about after you had shot down any notion of getting married and having a baby. Now suddenly there is woman desperate for his sperm.

I suppose it doesn't matter either way. You are doing the right thing in blocking him etc. But I suppose if he has fully made it all up he is next level nutter!

I hope this is an end of it all for you anyway

Swipe left for the next trending thread