An English woman who thought she was about to marry her dream prince charming got a rude awakening after discovering this self-professed “lord” was a romantic scammer who had already plunged her into tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt.

According to reports, 27-year-old Megan Clark, a manager at a bar on the Isle of Wight, became smitten with the man identified as Lord Bertie Underwood, who expressed interest in her following their encounter at the bar.

It’s understood that Mr Underwood charmed his way into the bar manager’s heat under the guise of being a descendant of John T. Underwood, who owned the popular company that sold the Underwood Typewriter in the early 20th century.

In addition to the Regality of his attire, her belief in his aristocratic lineage was compounded after being showered with expensive gifts and treated to romantic dates in high-end vehicles.

The two moved into his villa months into their dating, with the marriage proposal coming shortly after, which she accepted.

Suspicion, however, arose 18 months into their whirlwind romance after letters addressed to other people started arriving at their home. “Lord” Underwood dismissed them as mistakes and meant for previous tenants.

She later found credit cards in his wallet under different persons’ names, which heightened her scepticism and compelled her to google the people, all aliases of Robert Madejski, a convicted fraudster who looks just like her Lord Bertie Underwood.

Everything about Lord Bertie Underwood had been fabricated, and the assets were all rented to create the illusion of nobility for his victims. She also found out that he had put in £30,000 ($40,000) in debt by taking out credit cards in her name weeks before the wedding.

She reported the issue to the authorities.

“I’m a trusting person until people give me a reason not to, and he was good at what he did. He never slipped up,” Megan explained speaking to the media. “He would make up tiny irrelevant lies to back up the big lies. For instance, he told me how he’d found our floorboards in a London studio and installed them during a renovation. He didn’t even own the house, it was a rental. Also, Bertie said his great-grandad invented the Underwood typewriter, and he had pictures of the appliance displayed on the walls. It was completely made up.”

Madejski was later arrested on unrelated charges but managed to escape jail midway through his five-year sentence.