A woman was deceived by a con artist pretending to be Take That’s Gary Barlow.
A 62-year-old Janet Smith was singled out by a greedy scammer who wanted her money.
The pizza restaurant worker genuinely thought she was communicating with the Take That singer for about a week after she added him as a friend on Facebook.
The fake Gary showered her with compliments and messages, telling her he had ‘parted ways’, which Janet thought meant from his wife.
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She eventually became suspicious and convinced the sly catfish to reveal their true identity.
Gary turned out to be a 24-year-old man from Nigeria.
He expressed regret for lying to her and claimed he truly loved her before requesting money.
Now Smith, from Colchester in Essex, has disclosed what happened to her in an effort to caution others of online scammers.
She said: ‘It’s so sad because he’s been saying to me ‘I love you’.
‘I said ‘I am 62 – you’re 24’.
‘I’m saddened because he is poor and he’s got no money.
‘For the last week, he’s been constantly texting me, asking me where I am.
‘He was texting me from 9am to 3am.
‘Elderly people are going to be adding these ‘celebrities’. They’re going to be conning these old people.
‘I understand that they are poor and they have to get money for their family, but people might lose a lot of money over this. It’s also giving celebrities a bad name.’
During their chats, the fake Gary was ‘really lovely’ and ‘kind’ and wished her good morning and evening, Smith said.
She continued: ‘The words were really posh – ‘I’m in a meeting now’ and ‘I’m practicing for a concert’.
‘And it was going well. He just kept saying ‘I’m Gary Barlow, I’ve split up..’
Eventually Janet got suspicious, questioning whether he would ‘talk to somebody like me, he’s too famous’, she said.
Smith said: ‘I just thought, this isn’t Gary Barlow.”
‘I kept saying, ‘you’re not the real one!’ And he was saying, ‘You’re lovely, you’re kind, yes, I am Gary Barlow.”
She managed to persuade the scammer to reveal who he was by telling him he could have her WhatsApp number in exchange for his true identity.
She described the moment of truth: ‘He sent me a message to say, ‘look I’m really sorry: I’m going to tell you the truth and he told me his name.’
The only thing the two had in common was admiration of Gary Barlow.
She continued: ‘He is very poor.
‘He’s on WhatsApp and he’s texting me saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’ve done fraud but we come from a poor family. I do admire Gary Barlow, I like singing and I like his songs.”
The catfish eventually confessed his love for her.
Smith explained: 'He said, 'I thought you would be able to assist me and my family but it’s unfortunate that you can't'.
'I asked him what he meant by that and he said 'some money to get some food in Nigeria.'
When Janet asked how much he needed, his response was: 'I don't have the ability to tell you how much you will give me, only you know in your heart.'
She told him she was 'not in a position to do that', but says that the entire experience has left her feeling 'really guilty.'
She said: 'There were 20 Tom Jones [on Facebook].'
'And Michael Barrymore has been coming up. When they send a message, it’s similar.
'I think a lot of these foreign individuals are doing this because their countries are poor, but people think they’re genuine celebrities.'
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