She thought she was flirting with huge Hollywood actors
A woman has spoken out about how she was scammed out of a staggering £250k by scammers posing as celebrities, who she thought wanted to date her. And she kept falling for the same scam over and over again.
Jennifer Barton, a 44-year-old NHS worker, was messaged by various fraudsters on Facebook and Instagram posing as actors Alexander Ludwig and Charlie Hunnam, Westlife’s Nicky Byrne and US singer Michael Ray.
Over two years, she fell for the same con a whopping six times, and ended up selling her house and car to give the con artists £250k. They would tell her they “love her” and “wanted to meet” before claiming they needed the cash for various reasons, like being stuck in messy divorces.
“People were reaching out on Facebook and Instagram, saying they were celebrities like Alexander Ludwig and saying they wanted to meet,” the woman from Kidderminster said, via SWNS. “They wanted to chat on Telegram as it was more private. Some said they were going through divorce and didn’t have their own money.
“It was one excuse after another – one said they were arrested, another was let out of their contract, one was in London and got robbed. They all told me that they loved me and wanted to marry me, wanted to come to England and be with me.”
Credit: SWNS
The elaborate scam started when a man claiming to be Alexander Ludwig, who’s in The Hunger Games and Vikings, messaged her on Instagram, and asked to chat via Telegram instead.
“At the start, it was general everyday kind of chat with a bit of flirtatiousness. It was within a month or so he asked for money. He asked for around £3,000 for court fees,” she recalled. “You are hoping that the guy is legit. I did wonder if I had gone too far, but I got addicted to spending this money – I have this attention from someone and I am liking this attention.”
She sent him the initial £3k, then sent him another £3k and £6k in bitcoin, bringing the total to £12k.
“I was seeing his pictures on Instagram with his wife and I questioned him and he told me to not believe ‘everything you read on social media’. I felt like such a fool,” she added.
Credit: SWNS
Then, another person posing as the same actor scammed her out of more than £100k. He claimed he was the real Ludwig, and needed money to “catch” the other account which was a fake. She fell for it again. This continued with Charlie Hunnam, Michael Ray and other celebs, who all started out really flirty before asking her to send over cash.
“Michael Ray sent me a pic of himself which matched up with his Instagram. His game was that he had a charity that could help me cover my bills for a few months and I had to send him some money,” Barton recalled. She sent him over £100k too.
The 44-year-old finally realised it was a scam in December when Ray refused to meet. Now, she’s run out of money, is homeless and has been forced to give her children to their father to look after. She has reported the elaborate fraud to the police and is working with solicitors to try to recover some of the cash.
“For anyone facing anything similar, just reach out to family and friends. Especially if they’re asking you for money,” she warned others. “There was an addictiveness when someone gives you attention, even if it’s a scammer, it’s nice. They play on your feelings.”
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Credit: SWNS