Warning to women as fake ‘wealthy businessman’ returns to dating apps – and uses a sly photo to attract ladies looking for love

A woman who claims her love-rat ex lied about everything, including seven secret children, has revealed a chilling new twist.

Cassandra Taulaki, from the Gold Coast, was left heartbroken and homeless after her partner, who used the fake name Marcus Bennet, allegedly tricked her into believing he was a wealthy businessman.

Convinced she had met the man of her dreams, she sold everything she owned and moved to Dubai – only to discover she had been conned.

The mother-of-two shared her jaw-dropping account on social media, where it quickly racked up millions of views and even landed her a TV deal.

But in a shocking turn of events, Ms Taulaki has now discovered that her ex is back on Bumble and is warning women not to fall for his lies.

‘Marcus is back on the dating apps in Dubai,’ she posted to Instagram alongside his profile photo.

‘Have had the following sent to me in the last two days from women in Dubai wanting me to post these to warn other women about him.’

She also uploaded more photos, including one with a cute puppy she claims is part of his long-running scam.

‘Pics of another woman’s dog are something he is notoriously known for on the dating apps for many years,’ she said.

‘Posing with women’s dogs is one of his tactics.’

Ms Taulaki thought all her dreams were coming true when she started dating Marcus at the end of 2023.

The single mum was looking for love – and the so-called successful jet-setter appeared to tick every box.

Tall, dark and handsome, he told her he was an engineer in Australia for Christmas before heading back to his lucrative job in the Middle East.

‘His name obviously is not Marcus,’ Ms Taulaki revealed in social media posts lifting the lid on the alleged deception.

‘He has many names actually – Paul, Pauly, Dartanian, Sam, Ryan, Dox, Antonio…

‘He said he was 32 years old and was a civil engineer in Dubai and was returning to Dubai in Feb 2024.’

Ms Taulaki said the lies kept coming, from a fictional family to life events that simply never happened.

‘He told me he had four brothers, all of which are not real people,’ she said.

‘He told me he was in the Australian Defence Force. It was believable, he had photos in his military uniform.’

She has since found out the convincing snaps were taken in costumes he hired.

In March 2024, Marcus delayed his return to Dubai so they could spend more time together, and Ms Taulaki says she was footing the bill for everything.

‘He had money when I met him, that’s why I wasn’t suspicious,’ Ms Taulaki said.

‘Then he must have run out of money and that’s when he spun a story about the ATO and his money being tied up in Dubai.

‘That made sense to me because that’s what would usually happen if he was in the situation he was telling me he was in.’

By May the pair were expecting a baby, and Ms Taulaki said that’s when his alleged con became even more complex.

She received messages on Facebook from a man she believed was his twin brother, offering congratulations.

The twin later got back in touch with her to ask for money towards a surprise birthday gift for ‘Marcus’.

Ms Taulaki later found out there was no brother – and the fake account had been set up by her boyfriend using edited pictures of himself to look like they were twins.

‘He photoshopped himself in,’ she said. 

‘He is so delusional.’

In March this year Ms Taulaki took to social media, posting a series of videos of her now ex-boyfriend, vowing to ‘expose’ him for what he had done.

Within hours, she was flooded with messages from a string of women who knew ‘Marcus’ and had similar stories to tell – including seven who were mothers to his children.

‘You see this kind of thing in movies and documentaries and I couldn’t believe this has happened to me,’ Ms Taulaki told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘I fell for a man who wasn’t even real – he lied about everything, his name, his age, his job, his family, his entire life.

‘We had made plans for our future and our life together, but it was a future that was built on the foundation of all his lies and I had no idea who I was really dealing with.

‘He was creating a world of fake accounts and fake people – and doing this for years to other women.

‘Who pretends they have a twin brother and photoshops themselves into photos to look legit and sends to girls?’

Believing they had a future together, Ms Taulaki sold everything she owned in October to head to Dubai to start a new life.

‘I sold everything, I closed my business and my plan was to go to New Zealand and see my family and let them know I am pregnant and that I have met a really great guy, and we are building a life together and they will meet him at Christmas,’ she explained.

‘Marcus’ parents had [supposedly] bought us an apartment on the Gold Coast and the plan was to go to Dubai for a few months and then come back to Australia and move into this apartment that his parents have bought for us and have the baby.’

But Ms Taulaki said when she arrived in New Zealand things started to unravel. 

‘There were a few red flags and I’m starting to think, “that’s strange”,’ she admitted.

In Dubai, Ms Taulaki became more suspicious after his story about a five-year work contract and flash apartment ‘didn’t add up’.

After some detective work online, she finally realised his whole story had allegedly been fake.

While Ms Taulaki has recently remained tight-lipped about the situation due to her contact with an unnamed production company, who have purchased the rights to the story, she couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

‘Why am I sharing this? Because he needs to be stopped and quit doing this s*** to women,’ she said.