RAP BATTLE
I matched with a rapper on Tinder but he ended up scammed me out of £30k – & that wasn’t even the shocking bit
As the couple grew closer, the rapper flew to London where he hung out with her family
Yvette Williams thought she’d found love when she connected with American rapper Lydell Birch, aka Moka Blast, on Tinder in 2019.
But after being love-bombed and drawn into his promises of entrepreneurship and music success, Yvette gave him over £30,000 to fund his ventures.
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When she refused to remortgage her home for him, Lydell cut her off - and the story took an even more sour turn.
Sharing how her life suddenly turned upside down to This Morning presenters Ben Shepard and Cat Deeley, Yvette explained how at first, it seemed like a true romance story.
''I met him on Tinder, we started to communicate. He was very, very attentive, he showed a lot of interest in my life, told me a lot about his early life.''
After the Tinder match had been speaking for a while on a daily basis, Yvette decided to finally meet the man in person and jetted off to Las Vegas, the US.
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There, they spent a lot of time together, with the rapper taking Yvette to his studio and talking about the business ventures he was allegedly working on, including a barber shop.
''[He] spoke about having professional athletes that would be using the barber shop when he fully established it - it was a nice holiday.''
As the couple grew closer, Lydell, 45, also flew to London where he hung out with Yvette's family.
''He played video games with my son, met my mum and met my nephew who's interested in music and [it] was spoken about maybe trying to help him get in contact with musicians.''
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With the rapper doing all the right things, the mum had no reason to suspect any ulterior motives - however, alarm bells started to ring when Lydell began to ask for money.
''There was a time before I even went to Vegas, he was in Turkey and he spoke about having to share a room with someone and he found it really difficult.
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''So he asked if I could lend him some money so that he could get a separate room - and it was always 'lend' and he would pay me back.
''I was happy to do that, it wasn't a large amount of money, it was for a specific purpose.''
The 45-year-old was allegedly in the process of establishing his barber shop, which required a big chunk of money for funding, Yvette explaining why she wasn't questioning the rapper.
According to the mum, the musician was always able to present her with ''a lot of information'' and piles of documents to back up the venture claims.
Soon, things escalated when Lydell needed money which he claimed was for buying furniture for the barber shop.
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''He was always saying 'I'm gonna be a millionaire. [...] The barber shop is gonna be open 24/7', he was gonna have TV in the floor. It looked very, very professional.''
The rapper made promises to give her the cash back once the business was up and running - and even asked Yvette to remortgage her home.
''In the back of my mind, I wasn't going to do it. I reached out to some organisations but I made it very clear that it was for him and he had provided his business plan.
''His demeanor towards me changed because it wasn't successful - as I knew it wasn't going to be successful - [...] and he started to back off a bit.
It wasn't long after that the rapper cut all contact with Yvette - but much to her surprise, the dark chapter in her life with Lydell wasn't yet over.
The rapper appeared on an interview posted on YouTube and soon numerous women started to claim that they had fallen victim to his love-bombing scam.
''I contacted his friend and he said there were hundreds of women. It wasn't just in America and not just in London - it was all over the world.
''Wherever he went, there was a woman he was in a 'relationship' with or made them believe he was in a 'relationship' with.
''Then I started to go on social media just to see if I could speak to someone, to try to make people aware that this is what's going on.''
Determined to find out the truth, Yvette joined a Facebook group with nearly 4,000 women claiming they had also lent him money which he never repaid.
“I say he has no type,” Becky Barnes, an ex-girlfriend told the .
“His type is good credit.”
They gave me money and I gave them a good time
Lydell Birch
Becky said Lydell still owes her more than $27,000 (£22k) after he said he needed money for tires on his car, his electric bill, and funding for business purposes.
Another victim, Tammy Englan, claimed she also thought she was in a monogamous relationship with the rapper and that he still owes her close to $6,000 - or almost £5,000.
“That’s really embarrassing,” Tammy said.
“It’s always been under the premise that he was going to pay me back.”
Initially, Yvette said, she was devastated.
''Then I felt ashamed that I was duped by him. But by speaking to the other women, [I realised] he does it so well. He is a professional, it's like his full-time job.
''He knows how to play the game [...] but I needed to take back my power to make sure that people are aware that there are people like him out there,'' said Yvette who's since become the moderator of the Facebook page.
Shockingly, Lydell is still out there. He hasn't replied to ITV.
In the past, he has said on YouTube: ''These women gave me their money out of their own free will - how is that a romance scam?
''They gave me money and I gave them a good time.''
Yvette believes that the chance of her ever getting any of the money back is almost non-existent.
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Warning others, the mum said: ''Be conscious, be aware. Do research when you meet someone, go online, put their name in Google and find out a bit more about them.
''How people portray themselves isn't necessarily who they are.''
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