Love Scam: The Shocking True Story

Paramount’s new love-scam drama Fake has earned rave reviews for its gripping tale of a woman who is cruelly deceived by a man she met on a dating app.

The drama-thriller follows writer Birdie Bell, played by Asher Keddie, as she becomes trapped in a volatile relationship with Joe Burt, portrayed by David Wenham.

The eight-part series delves into the complex psychology of love scam victim Birdie after she realises the successful and wealthy grazier she met on a dating app is actually a homeless liar who is also trying to scam several other women.

The Paramount+ series is inspired by writer Stephanie Wood’s own experience with a love scam artist and serial deceiver, laid out in her 2019 memoir of the same name.

With the main character heavily inspired by Wood, the series explores Birdie’s psyche as she becomes trapped in Joe’s gaslighting and manipulative behaviour.

Birdie, an independent magazine features writer, decides to start dating again after being single for five years, before quickly becoming influenced by single father Joe’s apparent intellectualism and charming personality.

Despite an unconvincing first date, Birdie ignores her instincts and is quickly sucked into his world, with viewers being taken along as they learn exactly how she found herself falling victim to his emotional abuse.

Birdie is eventually left questioning her own sense of reality as Joe’s manipulation and gaslighting ramps up and their relationship becomes nothing like the fantasy she’d longed for.

Although Joe narrates the thriller, the first five episodes focus on Birdie’s perspective of her increasingly manipulative relationship, and it is not until episode six that viewers finally learn the truth of Joe’s reality.

Author Wood spoke exclusively to Daily Mail Australia about her chilling 14-month romance with her real-life ‘Joe’ in 2014, and how easy it can be for anyone fall for a scammer online.

After breaking things off with Joe because of his frequent cancellations and bizarre excuses, Wood began investigating him and learnt he was not a farmer and property developer as he claimed, but was ­financially bankrupt and had a criminal record.

Reflecting back on the troubling time, Wood admitted there were red flags from early on in their relationship, but described how skilled Joe was in concealing and justifying these factors.

‘There were red flags frequently from very early on, but these guys are just masters at manipulation and they are masters at dissembling and making up stories and inventing the most complicated reasons that seem logical to hose down your concerns,’ she told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘I would raise things with the real guy and he would always have such intensely good explanations for things. There were red flags, but he was very good at putting them down.’

Wood detailed how Joe would often send her scenic pictures from his farm, with her finding no reason to doubt him, particularly as he didn’t ask her for money, which would have raised an alarm bell.

‘My guy built his stories around a lot of photographs he sent me of his farm, allegedly,’ she said.

‘This was back in 2014/15, it was pre Dirty John, pre the Tinder Swindler, there was nothing out there about romantic con men back then. 

‘I kept thinking to myself, he hasn’t asked me for money, if he asks for money I’ll know there’s something really weird here, but he never did. 

‘So why would I question a photograph of his four-wheel drive bogged in mud saying this is my day down on the farm? You don’t question that.’

After their break-up, Wood, just like Birdie in the series, discovered through reverse image searches he had actually stolen the farm pictures from other people’s accounts and had been lying all along.

‘It’s very obvious in hindsight, but when you’re trusting and when a lot of his stories make sense and he convinces you of them, they’re not things you automatically question,’ she said.

Wood eventually broke things off with Joe when she realised she had been ‘falling apart’ because of his contradicting stories and frequent no-shows in their relationship.

‘I was just an anxious, anxious mess and I suffer with a little bit of anxiety in real life and I couldn’t work out – even now I can’t work out what was anxiety and what was my instinct telling me things were wrong,’ she shared.

‘But eventually I thought “I’m not going to survive this, I will be in a mental hospital if I don’t leave this relationship now”. 

‘Fortunately, in many relationships it’s very dangerous to try and leave, and that wasn’t the situation I was in. He wasn’t a danger physically to me so it was very straightforward and easy to leave. 

‘We weren’t living together or anything like that, nor did we have kids together. All those things that make complications to abusive relationships. So I walked away and that’s when I started to investiga
te him.’

During her investigation, Wood discovered she was not the only person who had dated Joe, with some dating him for just six weeks, while others were involved with him for several years.

Wood, who is now ‘happily single’, admitted her trust has been ‘damaged’ by her relationship with Joe and said she has been apprehensive to use dating apps again.

‘Very sadly my trust is probably damaged. I’ve had one brief foray into apps again and then I ran away with my tail in between my legs feeling too scared to continue,’ she shared.

Wood also shared how technology has made things easier for con artists, who can scour dating apps if they are rejected by one partner for another potential victim in a vicious cycle.

‘If one person says “no, go away, I don’t believe you, you’re an idiot”, you can try another 10 women lined up waiting,’ she shared.

‘In those situations when a woman leaves after six weeks, he just turns around and goes back on to the apps!’

She added that technology has also made it easy for someone to be in bed with one person whilst simultaneously sending affectionate messages to others.

Giving advice to others using dating apps, Wood urged people not to tolerate more than three cancellations or crazy stories from a suitor and not to let anyone treat them badly.

‘Don’t be like me, don’t lose your trust, I don’t think that’s a good way to go. Be positive and optimistic. Never let anyone treat you poorly, never,’ she said.  

‘If they cancel once, you can give them that, second time raise your eyebrows and third time, forget it, just get out of there. 

‘Or if they have a crazy story the first time, OK listen to it, but don’t let it go beyond three really bad experiences with someone before you get out, I’d say. 

‘It’s better to be on your own than to be in a relationship that’s just appalling and when you’re not treated with respect.’

Wood first detailed her harrowing experience in Good Weekend Magazine before writing her 2019 memoir.

Her story was then brought to screen by Paramount+ in Fake, which is currently one of the most streamed shows in Australia.

The author described it as ‘head-spinning’ to see her story on screen, with Aussie icon Keddie playing the lead character inspired by her, while Wenham stars as Joe.

She admitted she has found certain scenes difficult to watch, particularly when Joe tells Birdie he will emotionally support her as she pursues her dream of writing a book – an exchange Wood said is ‘very much true’ to her real-life story.

‘That got me emotional because the real Joe in my life had told me he wanted to support me in my work,’ she explained, admitting she became ‘teary’ watching the moment unfold on screen.

‘I was in love with him, but this idea that I was going to get this man’s support and he was going to back me to be my best was just wonderful. So when I saw that episode, I got a bit teary. 

‘The love scenes get me a bit teary as well I guess, sort of what could have been. That now what I dreamt of is just playing out on screen and it’s not real.’

But Wood said there are some fictionalised moments in the series, such as when Birdie is warned by someone who knows Joe to ‘run’ away from him.

‘That never happened to me in real-life. In real-life I never heard from anyone who knew him until after I dumped the true guy, so I didn’t get any warning like that,’ she shared.

But the journalist said she has ‘made peace’ with the differences because she doesn’t think anyone in an abusive relationship should be judged for how they act.

‘The red flags were probably more than what I’d had. But then we should never judge any woman who’s in any relationship – abusive relationship of any description whatsoever,’ she explained.

‘Everybody responds completely differently and these types of relationship are emotionally abusive and the people that are in them behave in all sorts of ways that unless you are in that situation, you don’t know how you’re going to behave. 

‘I’ve kind of made peace with those things that did bug me, because none of us should judge anyone – not even a fictional character on television.’

Keddie, 49, who portrays Birdie, previously told how falling victim to a serial liar can happen to anyone, not just those who might be vulnerable as many might believe.

‘It can happen to anybody though, no matter whether you’re vulnerable or not,’ she insisted while discussing the series on The Project alongside her co-star Wenham.

Of why people might ignore red flags while dating, Wenham added: ‘I think we want to see the best in people, we want to believe in the best in people, we want to trust.’

While Keddie continued: ‘Birdie really wants Joe to be The One, so she pushes her instinct down time after time after time, as you
can see, and it’s pretty brutal.’

Fake has been compared to the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, which detailed how a real-life dating app con artist stole huge sums of money from his string of romantic partners.

But Wenham, 58, insisted the show is very different from the documentary because Joe’s motivations are not financial, making his intentions much less clear-cut.

‘Money’s not a motivation for him, so why does he do it? And it’s not just Birdie. There’s obviously other women as well,’ he told TV Tonight of his complex character.

‘I suppose at a really basic level, it’s probably the desire to be loved and just never being satiated, just wanting it more and more.’

Wenham insisted Joe is the ‘classic’ example of a fantasist who cannot tell where his reality finishes and fantasy begins as he delved into the psychology behind his lies.

‘I wanted to make sure every moment was completely real for both the character that I was working opposite, and also for the audience to distinguish exactly what was real and what was Fake,’ he added.

The series has left viewers wanting more, with questions already surfacing about whether Fake will be renewed for a second series, just days after its July 4 premiere.

Wenham insisted a renewal hasn’t been confirmed, but didn’t completely dash fans’ hopes as he teased that the show could be taken in any direction if it did get a second run.