I lost £32k to suave agent who also posed as Prem League star – I was a tech-savvy 20-year-old not a romance scam granny

LEAVING the Love Island villa at just 20, Georgia Steel thought her life was set to change for the better.

But instead of fame and fortune, she walked into a living nightmare that shattered her sense of safety and trust.

instagram/geesteelx

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She had over £30,000 swindled out of her[/caption]

Paul Edwards – The Sun

The former Love Island star was left feeling very vulnerable[/caption]

At an age when most people are just starting out, the reality TV star was defrauded by a career criminal, who managed to steal £32,000 from her.

“I was obviously very vulnerable, like I was 19 when I went onto the show,” explains the reality star, who appeared on season four of Love Island back in 2018.

“That is so young considering I was at uni as well. So it was a massive, massive life change and because obviously all my family were up north I was like very alone in London.

“It’s an age where you think you have it together, but really you are just a teen.”

Her upbringing in a small, northern village near Doncaster had been sheltered, and she admits: “I never had to deal with anything really, really bad.

“So I think I obviously looked at everyone like they were lovely and that everyone was nice because that was the world that I came from.”

She thought she was on guard, but the reality star quickly realised a dark side of the world.

Medi Abalimba, who is now referred to as “The Footballer Fraudster,” is a career criminal and serial imposter known for impersonating professional athletes and wealthy individuals to scam people.

Born in the Congo but raised in London from the age of five, he was a talented footballer and at the peak of his career in 2009, he signed for Derby County for £1.2m.

He also played for Oldham Athletic, Southend United, Fulham and Crystal Palace – but frequent injuries meant by 2012, he was signed by Farnborough Town with a wage of £300 a week, working part-time at a taxi firm to get by.

He had already served a four-year jail term for fraud before meeting Georgia.

“I think Medi being the predator he is, he would have really looked at me as an easy victim,” she says.

“Considering obviously I did the show and I was in the public eye and work was brilliant, it even made him probably more keen because he knew what he could probably get from me.”

To Georgia, Abalimba presented himself as a “normal guy” working as a US government agent Miguel Johnson, and Georgia found it “refreshing” that he didn’t seem interested in her fame.

“I found it refreshing because I thought he had no intentions of the showbiz world, and I liked that,” she says.

He had previously posed as Chelsea footballer Gael Kakuta and swanned around in luxury bars and hotels, running up huge tabs, which he either didn’t pay, got someone else to pay or settled with stolen credit cards.

Very confident

Georgia recalls him as “very confident” and “so direct, and sure of himself that you wouldn’t doubt him.”

She continues: “The romance was very quick and very extravagant. Cars would come and pick me up…not talking Ubers, I’m talking beautiful cars with drivers in suits. It was another level.”

She was swept up in the whirlwind, unaware of the sinister plot beneath the surface and her chaotic life post-show became a weapon against her.

“I didn’t have a moment to be like, ‘wait a minute, why is everything so extravagant?’” she admits.

The last thing I thought he would do would be go through my purse

Georgia Steel

“My life was on this hamster wheel at that point.”

She was defrauded out of £32,000, but unlike other romance scammers he never asked her for a penny.

Instead, Georgia was targeted during a date night at a fancy restaurant – and Abalimba was soon on a spending spree.

“He took photos of my card without me knowing basically,” she says.

“It felt like such a safe environment and everything was extravagant and like so extra, the last thing I thought he would do would be go through my purse.”

Emotional aftermath

The emotional aftermath was devastating.

While the financial loss was painful, the emotional betrayal was far worse.

“I still think about the emotional side for sure, because trusting anyone and then being betrayed in a way like that is awful.”

The shame she felt was immense.

“I was so embarrassed, for a good year and a half, I still get a bit embarrassed now to be honest,” she admits.

Paul Edwards – The Sun

The reality star was 20-years-old at the time[/caption]

Instagram/geesteelx

She is now speaking up and trying to raise awareness for romance scams[/caption]

Georgia felt so alone and so afraid that she was given a police phone and had to move.

“I was so fearful. He’d never been convicted of anything aggressive or anything like that, but when someone’s capable of that you just don’t know.”

Georgia explained that Abalimba’s routine was to “vanish and scarper.”

“He would come up with a new name and new identity and fly to France to do it all again,” she says.

“The criminal world scares me, I wasn’t aware of anything like that. I’ve got a really innocent background so I just didn’t think it could happen.

“I sometimes feel ashamed, but I know it wasn’t my fault and it can happen to anyone.”

I think Medi being the predator he is, he would have really looked at me as an easy victim

Georgia Steel

According to a recent Tinder survey, 49% of young people aged 18-24 years old who are students or graduates have fallen victim to scams, while 23% of those surveyed between 18-24 years old admitted they’ve overlooked a red flag “for the plot”, and simply because they fancied them too much to care (41%).

She says: “I think it’s so important to get it out that it is happening to young people more than you think.

“I do think people have that pre-perception of, oh, it’s older ladies that are really lonely, that are really vulnerable, but that’s one side of it.

“But if you actually have time to read into the depths of it and know everything, you realise, ‘oh, bloody hell, like this actually can happen to anybody.’ Yeah, it really can.”

Inn February this year, Abalimba, got sent back behind bards.

He was sentenced to four years and two months in 2021.

But after his early release, he fled the UK in early 2023, which was a violation of his conditions.

An investigation found him in the US, and he was extradited back to the UK.

He was sent back to prison and is scheduled to remain there until October 2026.

Georgia explains that the trauma “ruined” her dating life for a while.
“I was just really standoffish,” she says, and admits she became hyper-aware of “any red flag or anything that made me feel uncomfortable, I’d be out.”

She now says: “If there’s any crap or any rubbish or any headache, I’m not interested.”

While she’s been with her partner for a year now, she acknowledges that “people have to gain your trust.”

According to UK Finance, £36.5 million was lost to romance scams in 2023, more than double the figure reported five years ago.

Action Fraud adds that nearly £410 million has been lost to dating fraud since 2019 across 40,000 cases, with an average loss of more than £10,000 per victim.

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Action Images – Reuters

He impersonated former Chelsea star Gael Kakuta[/caption]

While a UK Finance survey further highlights how routine the problem has become: 38% of people who met someone online last year were asked for money, and more than half complied.

Now, Georgia is using her experience to help others, a path she was encouraged to take by her parents.

She’s partnered with Tinder on a campaign to raise awareness among students ahead of Fresher’s Week.

And her message remains vigilant to those on the dating scene.

She says: “People just need to Pause for anyone that feels uncomfortable and quit while you’re ahead.

“Never give anyone your money. Just don’t.

“Also I felt so alone at the time, and it’s important to not feel that.

“I’m glad in a way it happened, because I woke up to the fact that everyone doesn’t have the right intention, and if that didn’t happen, could something worse have happened?”