For three years, Heather thought she'd found her perfect man. Then she opened his Gmail account.

When Heather Rovet opened her door to a "charming" man with a toolbox in 2018, she thought she was meeting her handyman.

The experienced real estate broker, from Toronto, didn't know the man that stood before her was one of Canada's most prolific romance scammers; a man who would steal not just her mother's jewellery, but three years of her life, and leave her with lasting trust issues.

Jason Porter, who operated under several aliases, such as Jace Pierti, was no ordinary romance scammer. "Hundreds" of women across multiple dating platforms were entangled in his sophisticated operation. Each received identical romantic scripts and experienced the same carefully choreographed seduction techniques.

Heather spent three years of her life thinking she had found her perfect man. Then everything came crashing down.

Listen to Heather Rovet on True Crime Conversations podcast. Post continues below.

The perfect meet-cute.

Heather remembers the day she met "Jace Pierti" like it was yesterday. She was straightening up her downtown condo, finally hoping to get some loose hinges on her kitchen cabinets fixed, when she heard a knock on the door.

The handyman recommended by her building manager had arrived.

He was in his early forties, relaxed, handsome and confident.

"It was like a Hollywood meet-cute," Heather told Mamamia's True Crime Conversations podcast.

"I opened the door and there was this super-cute guy.

"He was so charming and so flirtatious, and not knowing who he was and that's all part of his game, it's easy to get hooked in."

As they chatted, his phone wouldn't stop buzzing.

That was the first sign something was amiss.

When she realised the extent of 'Jace's' lies, Heather made the decision to speak up and fight. Image: Amazon Prime.

What followed was an intense courtship that felt like something from a romance novel.

"From the first day we met to when we went on our first date, it was about two and a half week lag, and I have every single text message he has ever sent to me, and in between, it was some of the spiciest, most flirtatious texts we've ever sent one another back, and I thought it was me, and I was so special"

The relationship progressed quickly, and Jace was not shy in declaring his love for Heather.

"Every day, day in, day out, I would hear, 'you're the love of my life. I love you'," she said. "When you're told 'I love you, I love you, I love you', you feel very special."

However, the man Heather fell in love with was a complete fabrication. Jason Porter — his real name — had crafted an entirely false identity, complete with an impressive backstory.

"When he first got out of federal prison, he changed his name from Jason Porter to Jace Parati. And then by the time I met him, Parati had morphed into Pierti," she said.

He told Heather he was a software engineer who had attended the University of Waterloo and worked in China and Japan. The stories were believable to Heather, who was successful in her own right and surrounded by accomplished friends.

"Being in my mid to late 40s, I have a lot of successful friends. I was successful. I am successful, like, so they were believable stories," she said.

The devastating discovery.

The truth began to unravel when Heather's mother discovered her jewellery was missing from their family farm. Initially, no one suspected Jace, who had been trusted with keys and alarm codes.

"My mum would be like, you know, here's the key, here's the alarm code, let yourself in, make yourself a coffee, because she trusted him," she recalled.

Then in 2021, three years after they met, moved in together, shared a life together, Heather uncovered the truth about Jace.

The revelation came when Heather accessed his computer and Gmail account.

What she found was devastating. She saw the messages, the proof that the man she loved had other targets.

"It's not like he was talking to two or three women, it was hundreds of every age, every ethnicity, like and always like, 'Oh my God, you're so beautiful'. 'Hey, beautiful'."

The realisation that her entire relationship was a lie was crushing.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing at all, like it blew my mind. It's like, I feel like I got split in half, because there was part of me that's like, this is insane, and oh my god, I'm in love with this person, like how it was just black and white. There was no grey in that moment, and it was so awful," she said.

"Everything that I thought to be special and true about my relationship was just a line and a lie."

WATCH: Heather on the moment she found out her relationship was a lie. Post continues after video.

From victim to warrior.

Rather than retreat in shame, Heather made the decision to fight back.

"I think I very much became like a dog with a bone, like I wasn't gonna let this go. I wanted answers," she said.

She was driven by a desire for justice not just for herself, but for other victims.

"I just wanted justice served for what he did to us, but I equally wanted to try and expose him so he couldn't do this to anyone else," she said, adding age played a role in her decision to pursue justice.

"If I were 20 years younger and I'd gone through this, I probably would have just remained in the shame and licked my wounds and been like, Ugh, that sucked. But in the middle of all this, I turned 50, and I couldn't have peace with myself if I just let it go."

Jason Porter was eventually sentenced to two years in prison, three years probation, and ordered to pay restitution to Heather's mother for the stolen jewellery.

While Heather acknowledges this was more than many theft cases receive in Canada, she feels it wasn't enough.

"I was hoping he would get like, at least 10 years and come out an old man, but that didn't happen," she said.

The emotional cost to her family was immeasurable. Her mother's wedding rings were amongst the stolen items, irreplaceable symbols of her marriage.

"It's like part of her marriage, the memories of her marriage are gone," Heather said. "There's nothing to pass on to my sister or myself or my niece, like, there's no heirlooms anymore," she said.

Today, Heather is dating again, though she admits it's been challenging.

"It's been very slow because it has been hard," she said.

"It's some days in the relationship, it's like one step forward, two steps back."

Her advice for others who might find themselves in similar situations is to be compassionate to themselves.

"Anyone who's ever been in my shoes, or sadly, might end up in my shoes, you just have to give yourself a lot of compassion," she said.

Through sharing her story, Heather hopes to help others recognise the signs of romance fraud and understand that anyone can be targeted.

"I think this is going to be really important for people to understand that you, a beautiful, smart, talented, successful woman can get sucked in by someone who is very artistic at doing what they do."

Romcon: Who the F**k is Jason Porter tells Heather's full story and is available to watch on Amazon Prime now.

Feature: Supplied.