ORLANDO, Fla. – A 52-year-old Bulgarian woman currently working in Ireland is the latest target of international imposters who use stolen photos of a handsome Carnival Cruise Line officer in an online dating scheme that steals victims’ money.
Alessandro Cinquini, 29, who is known on dating sites as “Alex the Officer,” first contacted News 6 in March 2022 when he discovered his photographs were being used to fool women from Florida to India.
Vanya Dimova contacted News 6 after seeing our reports about Cinquini on the web.
She said an Alex imposter sent her photos and videos of lavish gifts that included a shimmering engagement ring.
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News 6 sent 15 questions to her in advance so Dimova could translate and prepare responses during a Zoom interview.
She said she met the Alex imposter on Instagram back on March 26. According to Dimova, the conversation went from casual to romantic very quickly.
“After two days, he told me he was in love with me,” Danya told News 6. “Every day, he tell me he want to buy a house in Bulgaria and live together.”
Cinquini told News 6 the imposters have never stopped using his photos and he assured us he never contacted Dimova.
“They have my old pictures from my old life,” Cinquini said. “Most of those pictures aren’t on my Instagram anymore. I canceled them years ago.”
He told News 6 he currently works as a fleet operation center watch officer for Carnival Cruise Line.
Danya sent News 6 a voice message from a man claiming to be Alex.
“I love you, I love you,” the man said.
The voice sounded nothing like Cinquini.
Danya said that voice recording was the only evidence she has. She never met the imposter face-to-face or spoke to him on FaceTime or Zoom.
Danya said she became suspicious when the imposter asked her to pay the shipping charges for her gifts. He sent her a Bank of America receipt to prove his account had been frozen.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, romance scams in the U.S alone netted an estimated $1.3 billion last year, impacting 70,000 men and women.
Last week, the man contacting Dimova removed Cinquini’s pictures from his Instagram site but continued to message her to ask for the money for shipping.
Danya said she never sent a dime.
If you think you have been targeted by a romance imposter, contact makeendsmeet@wkmg.com or Mike Holfeld at Mholfeld@wkmg.com
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