The woman who is pregnant to a man who doesn't exist.

Cass' story begins like many modern romances: on a dating app.

What followed was a whirlwind relationship that at first seemed like a dream — but would ultimately shatter her reality, when she discovered the father of her unborn child had fabricated his entire identity.

"This is my story of how I fell for a man who wasn't even real," Cass shared in her now-viral TikTok series.

"He lied about everything; his name, his age, his job, his family, his entire life. I was in really deep, and I'm currently pregnant with our child. I'm due in a week."

Watch: Charlotte thought a guy was catfishing her, so she did it back. Post continues after video.

Cass met the man she knew as 'Marcus' while actively looking for something serious in late 2023.

"I was looking for somebody to settle down with and start my life with, and build a future and build a family," she explained.

Marcus said he was a 32-year-old civil engineer working in Dubai, who had returned to Australia for the holidays. He claimed to have served in the Australian Defence Force, enlisting at 18 years old.

"He was very knowledgeable about civil engineering, which he studied when he was in the military," Cass recalled.

The deception went incredibly deep. According to Cass, "His name, obviously, is not Marcus. He has many names. Actually, Paul, Paulie, Sam, Ryan, Dox, Antonio… he went by many names."

He even had fictitious parents, "LaToya and Henrik Bennett", and four fake older brothers named Sam, Henrik, Edgar and Paul.

What made his lies so convincing was the attention to detail.

"It was believable because he had photos in his military uniform, which I later found out were just costumes that he had hired, and he had put on and posed in."

Marcus also claimed to be half Tongan and half Māori, even getting traditional Māori tattoos called Tā moko.

Their relationship progressed quickly.

"We decided we would be committed to each other. We talked about marriage. We were like, 'we'll have a family. Let's build a future and a life together.' He knew that's what I wanted, and that's what I was looking for, so he played the part [as if] that's what he wanted too."

When March arrived and Marcus was supposedly due to return to Dubai, they discovered Cass was pregnant.

"We're absolutely thrilled because we said if we get pregnant, that's great. We'll just go with it."

Soon after, Cass received a message from someone claiming to be Marcus' sibling.

"His older brother, Henrik, adds me on Instagram to congratulate me and say how happy the family is," Cass explained.

"I later come to find that this Instagram page is actually Marcus messaging me, and he used this page to message me because he fabricated everything."

Cass sadly had a miscarriage, but soon fell pregnant again. Throughout this time, she was financially supporting both herself and Marcus.

"I'm paying for pretty much everything. What's weird is that, every now and then, he would have money, but then he wouldn't."

Around the time of Marcus' birthday, his "brother" messaged Cass and asked her to chip in for some tattoos. She sent him around $500.

Then, Marcus claimed his grandmother had passed away.

"In our culture… if someone passes away, if someone gets married or whatever, you contribute money to it. You help the family," explained Cass.

"When he told me his grandma had passed away, obviously I felt devastated for him, because he was actually video calling his grandparents, and I could hear him when he was video calling them, and they were Tongan."

Only later would she discover the truth: "Those were his real parents, but they barely spoke English, and they were very traditional Tongan people."

His explanation for his financial situation seemed plausible enough.

"He told me that his money was tied up in Dubai and [with] the ATO [in] Australia, which makes sense, because if you live and work in another country... and you're in Australia for more than three months, you have to pay tax on the money that you bring in."

As for the baby, Marcus played the role of excited first-time father convincingly.

"He was so considerate. He wanted to come to all the appointments. He wanted to be really involved."

By October, they had developed an elaborate plan for their future. Marcus would return to Dubai while Cass would visit New Zealand to tell her family about the pregnancy. Then, she would sell her Australian possessions and join Marcus in Dubai, where his parents had bought them an apartment.

Once Cass got to New Zealand, Marcus' requests became increasingly suspicious, though Cass didn't recognise it at the time.

"He asks me for my verified copies of my ID, because you need that when you are applying for a rental. I didn't think it was suspicious that he was asking me for that," she explained.

Despite finding it "a bit scary", Cass sent Marcus her identification.

What was meant to be a two-week visit to New Zealand stretched into six weeks for Cass, and Marcus continued the charade with claims about health insurance and accommodation.

"He's like, 'My family's going to help pay for your health insurance. I want to make sure that when you're over here, if you need to see a doctor, anything for baby, like you're covered.'"

Feeling bad that his family had seemingly forked out thousands of dollars, Cass sent him more money.

Meanwhile, Marcus was fabricating a social life in Dubai, sending photos with new friends and attending events.

"He makes a new group of friends. He's going to running clubs, and he's hanging out with this awesome group of people that he's met."

Cass was excited to join Marcus and his new pals. But when she finally arrived in Dubai, the carefully constructed facade began to crumble.

"Things just absolutely fall apart, and that's when I start questioning things," said Cass.

"I'm fed more lies, but I start investigating. And that's when I discover his passport and all these documents that really freak me out at that point, because obviously I know him as Marcus, 32, civil engineer from New Zealand, Australian citizen. That's what I've got in my head. So when I find all of this stuff, that's when everything just falls apart."

The truth was devastating. Not only had he lied about his entire identity, but Cass discovered he had been "on all the dating apps straight away" upon arriving in Dubai.

The aftermath of sharing her story publicly has been overwhelming, as hundreds of women have flooded her DMs with similar stories.

"It's been so overwhelming finding out how many kids he does have," Cass said, confirming that she knows of seven by now.

Now, just days away from giving birth, Cass has promised to return with more details about what exactly she discovered in Dubai and the aftermath of her discovery.

"The lies were so f**king big that when I realised, they really rocked my entire reality," she said.

"I know you're going to wonder, you know, how did I not see? Was I blind? But before you judge me, just hear me out, because this could happen to anyone."

Mamamia has reached out to Cass for comment.

Feature Image: Instagram/@conscious_cass.