Frank Kennard aka Frank Kirby aka Clarence
Complaint 133177 Details

i met softgentleman on 21 June 2012 via match.com under the name softgentleman.

full name is Franklin Kennard - or Frank or Frankie (or daddy as he liked to be called)

a single father of matilda aged 5, he is guyanese and lived in USA before volunteering to come to the UK to work in Nottingham 2 years ago. The mother of Matilda passed away a couple of months after having her following an operation and he has raised her since. He had the opportunity to work in the UK, he is a Medical Reporter for the BBC working for Eastmidlands station.

He said that he had met a girl at the beginning of the year and it turned out that she had 3 kids and hadnt told him. he said that he had parents evening with Matilda and when the got home she said that she was sad because all her friends were waiting for their mummy and she was the only one waiting for daddy. He saw the advert match.com the next day, signed up on sunday and we met on the wednesday. said it was fate

from day one he told me that he would need to travel at the end of the month with work, he said he was going to malaysia to obtain background information on the olympics as theirs was the most successful games and it would help him and his team with reporting. He had arranged for a team of 4 people to travel ahead of him. He had only purchased a one way ticket as he was unsure how long he would need to be there. I never got to meet him before he travelled as he wanted us to get to know each other so that we were not strangers when we met. his neighbour, Mrs Emma would be taking care of Matilda (who is in her local church choir and likes custard cream donuts), and that he had given her 10 stones and told her to throw one away each morning so that she knows when daddy is coming home!

We seemed to gell, and both agreed to take our photos down from match.com to show committment to each other! he had all the patter, about marriage, more children, moving down to my area, even having my name tattood on his neck.

a day after arriving he said that his card had been blocked by his bank because he failed to tell them he was travelling. he cannot resolve this unless he goes into his branch with ID in the UK. he had no back up plan, i.e. no other card. he asked me to buy a lyca mobile top up card so that he could make the calls he needs to resolve this. i bought a £30 card and text the details. (i did think about this after as he said it was a work mobile, so why is it pay as you go)

he then said he needed some help to cover his plane ticket, i said i do not have the cash available only a credit card. he said he will see if Mrs Emma can help. she pawned her jewellery to send him money and that i should do what i can too, and that she will call me to discuss what we could both do to help (i never received a call from her) he also text me from a malaysian phone number to confirm that he was in malaysia. he emailed me the flight confirmation details, and was due to fly home on friday and arrive in heathrow on sat morning.

when i phoned him friday night his phone rang, which meant he wasnt flying. long story short, he said he had missed his flight (6 hours earlier), and didnt know when the next flight could be.

i phoned klm and gave the booking reference number, they confirmed that booking was cancelled the same day it was made due to non payment, and that the actual leaving date was 29/7. so it was a fraud.

i put this information to him, and he said the travel agent he used "paul coats" is clearly scamming him. he said he want to his office, and was nearly arrested. He is now stuck in a hotel with no money to pay the hotel or the new flight and asked for my help. he wants me to send the equivalent of £2k via western union. i said i do not have these funds, if you are in this situation i could put it on a credit card and send him the confirmation. he said that i do not trust him, and he wants to be able to go to the airport and purchase the ticket himself.

i could not find any dirt on this guy before getting emotionally involved as "frank kennard" is a new name he is using, and there was certainly no confirmation online that he had the role that he did with the BBC.

he is a smooth talking, american accent 40 year old man - DOB 5/8/71. He used [email protected], and 07424343803, 07448874445. said he lives at 11 west walk in nottingham ng2 4qy.

THIS MAN IS VERY GOOD AT HIS JOB. VERY CONVINCING. I HAD SOME LOVELY CONVERSATIONS WITH HIM, BUT HE IS A SCAM ARTIST........ STAY AWAY!!

i have lots of pictures from him, but dread to think what will happen to the pictures of me and my son that i sent to him!

i have spoken with him since and said well done, you are very good at your job, but karma will get ya!