The victim of a twisted web of lies and deceit is nursing a broken heart and bank balance, while the woman responsible went on a drug bender with his love money.

Palmerston North woman Nakita Panatahi Sue told her lovestruck online victim a tale of dead dads, abusive exes and legal woes, and ended up blackmailing him for all he's worth.

She used two different identities and, eventually, after threatening to post naked pictures of him on Facebook, milked him for his entire life's savings of $18,335.

Sue, 24, joined online dating site Meet Me last year to hunt for men she could fool into giving her money to feed her drug habit.

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Sue found her victim on April 4, 2016, and started a "cyber relationship" with him. Within days, she'd started asking for money.

In the Palmerston North District Court, Sue was sentenced to six months' home detention for her predatory fraud over the course of their six-week "relationship", and was ordered to pay her victim back $20 a week, starting in August.

At that rate, Sue would likely pay all the money back by 2034.

She wove a story about an abusive ex-boyfriend who was strong-arming her for money to leave her alone and legal fees she needed to pay to keep out of jail.

Sue sent him a picture of an $1800 loan agreement in her name and promised it was to pay the man back for what he'd already given her.

But she didn't pay, the agreement never turned up and Sue claimed there had been a bank error.

Blaming the bank was her go-to trick and she used it several times to get the victim to repeat payments he'd already made.

By May 5, 2016, her victim was growing reluctant to fork out more money, so Sue switched identities and pretended to be her own flatmate.

"Priya" told the victim that Sue had been sent to jail. Using the new identity, she won his trust all over again, to the point of exchanging nude pictures.

She even invented a dead dad and an $18,000 inheritance, which she offered to share with him.

She got another $300 before he challenged her and the lies turned into outright blackmail.

In a written statement, the victim said he was sucked in completely by Sue's lies, and he'd felt sorry for the woman who he thought was in a difficult situation.

The detail and persistence of her requests had him convinced she was genuinely desperate and he shook off his nagging doubts to help her.

When he'd finally had enough, Sue threatened to post his nude pictures on Facebook if he didn't keep paying up.

He caved after two days of constant threats and gave Sue his last $500.

The young man said he was already utterly humiliated at that point and couldn't take the thought of further shame.

Sue kept demanding more, but he had nothing left to give. She only stopped once he told her he was going to the police.

His faith and trust in people was left as drained as his bank account.

His self-esteem was shattered. He didn't think he could ever try online dating again. He didn't trust internet payments anymore and had stopped supporting charities to avoid being fooled again, he said.

Judge David Smith said Sue's offending was premeditated and predatory and her victim was particularly vulnerable, as he was looking for intimacy.

But she'd earned credit for her early guilty plea, and demonstration of genuine remorse, desire to change and willingness to do restorative justice, he said.