When my fella told me the good news, I was chuffed. But something just wasn’t adding up…By Courtney Cousins, 23
As I slid another 10p into the machine, I narrowed my eyes in concentration.
I watched the coin as it bowled its way through the mechanics, before shooting down the slide and into a sea of silver coins below.
‘Come on!’ I squealed.
I was on a first date at the Blackpool arcades with a lad called Reece.
We’d matched on Tinder, and we were having a ball.
Suddenly I heard a waterfall of money rattle off the pusher platform, and I whooped with delight.
‘Jackpot!’ laughed Reece.
After claiming our winnings, we grabbed a bite to eat and nattered the night away.
He was attractive, calm and sweet, and we became a couple.
I was 20, and had been saving since I was 16, so I had enough cash stashed for us to rent a place of our own.
We moved into a flat together.
However, after just a few weeks, Reece got sacked. He couldn’t contribute to the bills,
so I had to pick up the tab.
He eventually got another job, but that quickly met the same fate.
It was frustrating, but I loved him and knew he was trying.
Finally, I managed to get him a job in the same industry I worked in — care — and he seemed to stick at it.
Then one day, I was just finishing up having my hair done at Mum’s, when Reece walked in.
Before I knew it, he got down on one knee, revealed the most gorgeous ring, and said: ‘Will you marry me?’
I couldn’t stop grinning.
‘We’d better start saving for the wedding!’ I laughed.
We wanted to put a deposit down on our forever home too.
It would be a case of tightening our belts even more.
Then, the following week, I got home from work and spotted Reece on the sofa. He was shaking uncontrollably.
I was immediately concerned.
‘What’s wrong?’ I said.
He flashed his phone at me, which was displaying the National Lottery mobile app.
‘I’ve won it,’ he stammered. ‘I’ve won the lottery. We’re getting 1.4 million pounds.’
He looked on the verge of tears, but I said: ‘I don’t believe it for a second.’
'I don't need to work now'
Then I leant in to take a closer look.
Yet the phone didn’t lie.
Right there, before my eyes, he had the winning numbers on his account.
I couldn’t believe it.
Reece occasionally entered the lottery, but I never imagined something like this would happen.
‘We’re going to be millionaires!’ he gasped.
While I let it sink in, he got busy ringing our families to tell them the life-changing news.
‘Yes, yes, I’m not kidding,’
I heard Reece say. ‘We’ve gone and won.’
They were just as shocked as I was.
Reece started making them all kinds of promises, and me too.
‘We can invest some of the cash, then spend the rest on our wedding and travelling,’ he said.
Later, once I’d had a strong cup of tea and my head had stopped spinning, I asked Reece: ‘So when’s the money going into your account?’
‘I’ll give them a ring now,’ he said.
I listened as he spoke to someone from the organisation.
When the phone call ended, he said: ‘The lottery people need to set a date to meet us and give us the cheque. Hopefully it will be soon.’
He’d received official email confirmation too.
Just days later, Reece announced that he was leaving his job.
‘I don’t need to work now,’ he told me.
I couldn’t really argue.
Weeks passed, and I kept asking him: ‘Have you heard anything about the money?’
‘Not yet,’ he smiled. ‘But we will soon.’
Finally, we did hear from them.
‘The National Lottery emailed me with a date to meet,’ he said.
He told me when it was, but as it drew closer, Reece told me it had been cancelled.
‘It’s to do with Covid regulations,’ he said.
It soon became a regular pattern, with several meetings being arranged, then cancelled, over the following months.
Meanwhile, Reece hung around the house, spending money like there was no tomorrow.
One morning, I checked my bank statement, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head.
‘Eight grand!’ I spluttered.
Reece had spent the money on a mobile game app.
‘What’s this?’ I demanded.
‘Why are you stressing?’ Reece said. ‘We’ll be getting the money soon anyway.’
I tried to stay calm.
‘And don’t worry,’ Reece reassured me.
‘I’m going to share the winnings with you.’
However, as time wore on, with no date for the cash to arrive, my bank account soon dried up.
Reece wouldn’t stop splashing out on food, games, and more.
Eventually, we were left with no choice but to borrow money from family.
My mum and sister helped, and Reece’s family did too.
We even had to get £17,000 off a loan shark.
But still, Reece continued to spend.
However, my suspicions were starting to grow.
I’d confront him regularly, but he seemed to have an answer for everything —Covid seemed to be the main excuse.
Finally, after four months, a concrete date was set for the people from the National Lottery to come over. I excitedly counted down the days.
Then two days before, Reece said: ‘Why don’t you just quit your job?’
We were going on holiday the following week anyway, and with the money soon coming, I thought: Why not?
I handed in my notice.
'I'm going to share the winnings'
On the day of the visit, our flat was spotless, and we waited nervously for the doorbell to ring.
They were due at 2pm. However, minutes turned to hours with still no sign.
‘They’re late,’ I said, glancing at the clock.
When I looked over at Reece, he had his head in his hands.
‘What is it?’ I said.
‘I made it all up, there is no money,’ he cried.
Time stood still as the news sunk in.
‘What! Why?’
I shouted.
‘I got too deep into the lie and couldn’t get myself out,’ he said.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
All this time he’d been spending my money and forcing us to take out extortionate loans just to get by.
It was too much to take in.
‘It’s fine, I’ll just leave,’ he said.
He tried to make a beeline for the door.
‘No, you don’t,’ I snapped. ‘You’re going to sit down and fix this.’
Mum was the first person I rang to tell, and she was beyond shocked.
Because of Reece, even she owed money to a loan shark.
Altogether, he’d put me and my family in £40,000 of debt.
‘You’re going to get a job and pay back this money every month,’ I told him.
He agreed, but four days passed, and he continued to laze around, making no effort to even apply.
He showed no remorse or a single ounce of emotion for his actions.
After a week, I couldn’t stand it any more, and said: ‘Get out of my house.’
Having saved for years and been savvy with my money, I was devastated at the situation he’d left me in.
I felt completely betrayed and couldn’t understand why someone I loved would do this.
I tried to tell the police, but they told me to get a solicitor, which I couldn’t afford.
So I got a new job, and set about working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, to claw the cash back.
Eventually, I got the debt down to just £10,000.
I struggled to trust people for a long time, but finally, I rekindled with an ex and we’re now expecting a baby together.
I should feel excited, but instead, my dire financial situation is causing overwhelming stress and I’m seeking professional help.
To this day, I still don’t know how Reece made everything seem so legitimate, from the app to the emails and phone calls.
But I realise he’s just a calculating con artist.
He was so lazy, he just wanted to leech off me and my family so he didn’t have to work.
I’m not sure how long he thought the deceit could roll on for.