Woman finds love with man whose face was used in a catfishing scam

A US woman has looked into the eyes of the man she thought had scorned her, and fallen in love with him instead.

Last year, Nicola Hayden was the victim of a catfishing plot that was used to extort her, but now she's in a relationship with the man whose photo was used to lure her into the trap.

Hayden, a Palm Beach, Florida mother of two, began chatting online with someone called Marcus in November when they sent her an Instagram message.

READ MORE: Aussies reveal how much they spent on their wedding, from the 'el-cheapo' to the eye-watering

According to the New York Post, the 38-year-old and Marcus spoke casually for a while and then, out of the blue, he told Hayden they should get married and spend Thanksgiving together in Florida.

It was at this stage she knew it was a scam, and blocked him — but then Marcus found her WhatsApp and sent her a message threatening to share a photoshopped image of her, nude, online if she didn't pay him.

"When we were still talking, I sent him a picture of myself on the beach," Hayden explained to The Post. "That's what he was using to make this fake photo."

He also threatened to hurt her children if he didn't receive US$6000 (approx. $8000) from her, but she refused to comply.

READ MORE: Queen Elizabeth appears on cover of Vogue for the first time in history

Months later, Hayden started seeing the face of 'Marcus' again on her Instagram, but this time, he was going by the name of Alex Cinquini — his actual name.

Hayden reached out to Cinquini out of curiosity, and learnt he lived only an hour away from her in Miami.

Eventually, Cinquini revealed to Hayden that his photo is often used by scammers — in fact, angry women have come up to him in public and complained that he ghosted them — and he's given up on trying to get scammers to stop using his photo.

"It breaks my heart to see that women are sending scammers who they think are me thousands and thousands of dollars and sometimes I feel powerless," Cinquini told NBC Miami. "A woman said she paid me US$3000 [approx. $4000] and then she went into debt."

Hayden and Cinquini met in-person in January, the duo have now been exclusively dating for several months.

"At first I didn't want to get my hopes up because of where it all stemmed from," Hayden told The Post.

"But the fact that I have this relationship now that is growing romantically is pretty amazing. Especially given what happened before it."