"Will you marry me? A Bulgarian woman turns to News6 to expose an international romantic scheme."."

In Orlando, Florida, there are active international fraudsters who use photos of a handsome officer from Carnival Cruise Line in an online dating scam that steals money from victims. The latest victim was a52-year-old Bulgarian woman working in Ireland.

Alessandro Chinkvini, known on dating sites as "Alex Officer," contacted Novosti6 in March2022 when he discovered that his photos were being used to deceive women from Florida to India.

Vanya Dimova contacted News6 after reading our messages about Chinkwini on the internet. She said that a scammer pretending to be Alex sent her photos and videos of luxurious gifts, including a sparkling engagement ring. Alessandro Chinkwini appealed to the public to warn women around the world that scammers had stolen his photos from social networks to create "catfish" profiles and deceive them in search of love, but actually targeting their money.

He revealed that scammers never stop using his photos and assured us that he has never been in contact with Dimova. People lurking behind stolen photos on social media of the man known as 'Alex Officer' have targeted his real-life girlfriend after the pair spoke publicly to warn women about sophisticated global romance scams.

"They have my old photos from my old life," Cinquini said. - "Most of those photos are no longer on my Instagram. I canceled them years ago." He also said he currently works at Carnival Cruise Line's fleet operations center.

Dimova sent News 6 a voicemail from a man who claimed to be Alex. "I love you, I love you," the man said.

A cruise line manager from Miami has been battling phony scammers for over a year. You've seen his story several times on clickorlando.com. But now he says he finally has a social media platform to spot fake accounts.

Dimova said the voicemail was the only evidence she had. She had never met the scammer in person or spoken to him on FaceTime or Zoom. But she became suspicious when the scammer asked her to pay for the cost of shipping the gifts. He sent her a receipt from Bank of America to prove his account had been frozen.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, romance fraud generated about $1.3 billion last year in the U.S. alone and affected 70,000 men and women.

Last week, the man contacting Dimova deleted Cinquini's photos from his Instagram, but continued to ask her for money for shipping. Dimova says she never sent a dime.

If you believe you have been targeted by romance scammers, contact [email protected] or Mike Holfeld at [email protected].