Jailed: romance scammer in Maidenhead conned woman out of £142,000 after claiming 'vow of chastity and poverty'

A conman from Italy has been jailed after his elaborate romance scam cost a woman £142,000, as he also pocketed thousands through tax dodging while living in Maidenhead.

Maurizio Fermi took expensive loans from his victim as he strung her along for years by claiming a religious vow to atone for past ‘sins’ prevented their relationship from becoming more serious.

The 67-year-old fraudster, of Marches in central Italy, also claimed £70,000 in VAT payments for himself by using false company details to evade HMRC over three years.  

Fermi was handed a seven-year and six-month prison sentence for two charges of fraud by false representation at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday, February 6.

Detective Constable, Catriona Shaw, of the Berkshire East CID, said Fermi had ‘complete disregard for making an honest living’ and had caused the victim ‘long lasting consequences’.

Fermi, who lived in Maidenhead at the time of the offences, committed his romance fraud offences over five years, between 2012 and 2017.

He met his victim, a woman now in her 60s, using an online dating website and later met her in person. He gained her trust and got the woman to confide personal details of her life.

But Fermi then said he was unable to pursue the relationship further. The fraudster claimed he had was under a Catholic vow from church authorities in The Vatican.

Police said he had claimed a need to ‘live a life of chastity, poverty, and servitude’ for seven years, in order to ‘atone for his previously sinful behaviour and lifestyle’.

The woman, who police said also had a ‘strong faith’, came to ‘accept and respect’ Fermi’s tale.

Fermi promised that in a few years, once the vow had been served, the couple could get married and share a future which included purchasing a property together.

Over five years, the woman gave the Fermi emotional and financial support; helping him to find a job and helping him finance business dealings.

Six loans worth £174, 500 were given to him by the victim and intended for his business, and to purchase properties as investments for their future together.

For several years, Fermi would repay amounts of between £500 to £1,000 a month.

Fermi’s elaborate ruse unravelled when, as his vow was set to conclude, he fled to Italy with another woman. He left his victim £142,000 out of pocket.

A further £70,000 of VAT fraud occurred between April 2014 and September 2017, when Fermi worked as a contractor and issued invoices through his own company.

Twenty Twenty Financial Systems Consultancy had been dissolved for two of the three years he issued VAT inclusive payment invoices through it.

The company was never registered for VAT pruposes and Fermi also used a false VAT registration number on the documentation.

His employer could not then reclaim the VAT they had paid via his invoices because he was not VAT registered, and never passed the VAT over to HMRC as required.

Police tracked down Fermi to Italy, where he was arrested on July 2, 2025. He was charged with the fraud offences when he was extradited to the UK on August 7, 2025.

He was jailed at Aylesbury Crown Court after a jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on two charges of fraud by false representation following a five-day trial.

DC Shaw Catriona Shaw said: “I want to thank the victim for her courage in giving evidence during the trial and praise her perseverance and patience in seeing this case through to trial and ultimately the conviction of Maurizio Fermi.

“The victim has been through an extremely challenging period in her life with long lasting consequences as a result of Fermi’s dishonest actions, therefore I am pleased that the jury saw his lies for what they were, and that he has received an appropriate custodial sentence.

“Fermi had complete disregard for making an honest living and this was further shown in his lack of any effort to pay taxes in this country.

“I would like to take this opportunity to remind the public that anyone can be the victim of fraud, please do not be embarrassed and do report it to Report Fraud.”