Lady recounts how she lost £80K to scammers

A middle-aged woman has narrated how she got scammed of her inheritance of £80,000, by fraudsters who posed as Hollywood star Jason Momoa.

The lady, whose identity was protected, narrated her ordeal to BBC, revealing that she was contacted on Facebook by the scammers.

She stated that their conversations then moved on to WhatsApp, adding that it quickly escalated into what she thought was a romantic relationship.

“We just got to talking on Facebook. He asked me if I’d seen his films and I said ‘yes’, then he asked me to move on to WhatsApp as it’s encrypted and it’s safer as he’s a celebrity. The account looked real, it was all very clever. They manipulated me,” she said. “I’ve lost an awful lot of money – around £80,000 [from an inheritance]. You feel stupid, but I just hope by me speaking it can help others,” she said.

The lady also recalled how the scammers initiated money requests, noting that they always promised to pay back.

“He’d put me in touch with other people which he said was his management. Then it was his lawyers or bank managers. Over time I spoke to loads. The first request for money was to pay for flights to travel to meet Momoa. He said he’d pay, then I was told I needed to. They never materialised. The flights were just the start. It was one thing after another,” she explained.

She described the experience as horrible, revealing that not only did she have to live with the financial loss, but she could not also bear the shame she felt after discovering the truth.

“When I got to £18,000 down I thought, ‘why am I paying for these? You’re the one with all the money, you’re supposed to be the celebrity’. It’s the most horrible thing that’s ever happened in my life. The worst thing was not being able to tell anyone what was happening,” she added.