Divorced councillor lost £5,000 to Facebook fraudster As her story unfolded Ken, who divorced two years ago, questioned why she didn't use the money to pay to fly over the boxes herself. But Leane told him they were 'sealed with a security lock' and she needed £600 to transport them on FedEx Demands for money then came thick and fast with Ken receiving official emails from a company that claimed to have handled security for President Clinton asking for a further £3,000 to fix the boxes with security tags. By this time Ken - who made all the payments at his local post office - was borrowing on anything and from anyone he could to help Leane. He borrowed £1,600 from a relative to send to her and Ken made payments of £600 for storage, £100 for solicitors fees, £300 each for security certificates, plus customs and attorney fees and £1,000 in excess weight charges. Ken by now he had borrowed on credit cards, payday loan agencies and put up his car as collateral on £1,100. Finally after a call from a man last month a man "with an African accent" said he was calling from Heathrow but needed £550 "so the boxes would not be scanned." It was only then Ken went to the police who told him he had been the victim of a well-known internet scam. In total he lost around £5,000 and his car. Ken, a councillor for 10 years, said he now wanted to warn others. Ken said: "I love Facebook, you get a lot of requests from all over the world. I was contacted by a lady called Leane Collins. She sent me a 'friend' request about 18 months ago. I'll be quite honest - I've always fallen for a pretty face. She said she was looking for a partner and was not bothered about his age. As emails progressed, Leane said she had travelled to Benin City in Nigeria, where the land had been sold to the country's government. Ken said: "She said the money was in two big boxes and she needed help to get these boxes out of Benin into the UK. She sent me a photograph of the boxes. Leane said she could not bank the money out there and needed to get it to England. I asked her why she did not use the money from the boxes to fly to England, but she said they were sealed with a security lock. I paid the money at a post office in Bolehall. A couple of days later I received a telephone call from a company called Global Securities saying they required £3,200 to put yellow tags on the boxes for security reasons. I said 'I'm not in a position to pay that sort of money'. Then I heard nothing more. But Ken contacted Leane again. She said she had raised half the money herself but still needed to raise the other half. He borrowed £1,600 from a relative to send to her but the requests for cash continued. They asked for further payments of £600 for storage, £100 for solicitors fees, £300 each for security certificates, plus customs and attorney fees and £1,000 in excess weight charges. Ken said: "The head of Global Securities even emailed to say everything was legal. I got the feeling then that it all was true. He emailed copies of the certificates to show it was all legal and all above board. But by now he had borrowed on credit cards, payday loan agencies and put up his car as collateral. Ken said: "I didn't know it was a scam, I was then up to my neck in debt. I'd borrowed from family and from other money lending agencies. I got into it fairly deep. I even borrowed £1,100 against my car. I was scared I had got into something much deeper and contacted the police. I said 'I think I'm in big trouble'. There's no fool like an old fool, people can judge me as they please but I just want to warn people of the dangers. I'm trying to make others more aware, to warn them what they can get themselves into. The fact of getting rich quickly was not in my mind. I have four daughters and a son, and seven grandchildren. I was thinking about what I would do for them. I have never been a man who has had a pocket full of things. You do look back and say you have made a stupid mistake. I should have read the warning signs but you do wise up in the end. I'd say to people I'm the fool here - please do not follow me down the same road.