In some cases, the 27-year-old had sex with teenagers a decade her junior. In at least one, she had sex with an underage boy. Some have told the Herald on Sunday they attempted suicide after getting mixed up with her and she has been blamed for one death. In almost all cases, the relationships started with Natalie’s face.
The 24-year-old said she had lived in fear for years and left three jobs because her face became well-known through Burgess’ scam.
People approached her in the street or struck up conversations at bars believing they had met “Laura West”.
In some cases, people made assumptions about the nature of their relationship based on Burgess’ online fiction.
Burgess and Natalie had met once - in 2004 at a bar in South Auckland. Burgess had a photo of the pair and used it to pretend she was best friends with “Laura West”. “They were gold to me,” said Burgess.
She put framed photos of Natalie on her bedroom wall to strengthen claims about their friendship in case she lured someone to her South Auckland home. Natalie said she complained to police in 2006.
Burgess said a “plea bargain” allowed her to plead guilty to another charge in return for police dropping Natalie’s complaint.
Natalie said the case should not have been dropped, “The police have let me down.”
Burgess provided Natalie and her mother Cushla with what she said were all the usernames and passwords to the fake accounts. She promised to stop using fake internet profiles.
After being exposed by the Herald on Sunday, Burgess was admitted to hospital and later placed in mental health care. She was discharged after a few days.
During the meeting, Burgess named two other people as accomplices. She provided transcripts showing she had given them passwords for false accounts.
But she said she was primarily responsible and had pursued her scam for years.
Police investigating allegations against Burgess are considering legal advice.
