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Original poster

Famous (ish) person messaging me

296 replies

Cat2014 · 23/09/2023 23:48

I have been chatting to someone who is kind of famous not like seriously film actor famous but social influencer. For a worth while cause , loads of followers and been in the news a lot fairly recently etc.
They have added me to a personal chat and we have been messaging and I think getting closer. I however keep thinking is this actually them? Could it be a member of their ‘staff’ just messing about? How can I trust that their messages are real?

I really like this person and I’m worried in case I’m being duped or something. Has anyone got any advice?

OP posts:
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7
Hellodollydaydream · 25/09/2023 18:11

Are they the opposite sex to you?

AnnyE · 25/09/2023 18:18

Block him it’s dodgy. Don’t be naive.

pebbles1976 · 25/09/2023 18:19

Back in the early 2000s someone IRL (on a night out) tried to convince me that they were Fran Healy from Travis. He went into so much detail. He looked uncannily like him tbf. Brave to have tried this not behind a computer, thinking about it. He carried on the charade (which I played along to) for WEEKS 😂

MamaSharkDooDooDooDooDooDooo · 25/09/2023 18:20

Jenasaurus · 24/09/2023 10:22

I met John simm last week. He was filming in Burgess hill. I was walking past as he arrived on set. I had no idea who he was he smiled at us and said hello. I said to my friend. Who is that and he said it said tjohn simm. I then saw the trailers in the car park

Show quote history

You're local to me, we have seen him a few times in the town. The only interesting thing going on here since the roundabout 😂

Soerdu · 25/09/2023 18:20

Sorry this has happened to you. You should name and shame now it is known to be a scam. You could help people avoid the same upset.

Lisapeter · 25/09/2023 18:31

Exactly my thoughts. Well said.

Bogeyes · 25/09/2023 18:52

Is it Russell Brand?

oakleaffy · 25/09/2023 18:52

Cat2014 · 24/09/2023 10:19

They have asked for a donation
I want to make a very small donation for the thing they’re collecting for but I won’t send it how the person messaging me has asked. I’ll send it via official channels and see if they’re ok with that

CATFISHED Scamfished

OP, Please, please look up 'Catfished' on you tube.

Believe me, famous people, ''Influencers'' have their absolute pick of partners, and there are so many people who fall for this type of thing and it starts off just how you say yours has started off.

Please be extremely careful and look at this video

Woman Insists SECRET Celebrity Boyfriend Is Not A Romance Scammer!

===============================Learn more here: https://scfme.co/LookupHere===============================We help people find lost loved ones and verify if s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLZybqauubQ&t=23s

sharonarnott · 25/09/2023 18:59

Screamingabdabz · 23/09/2023 23:56

Is it Russel Brand? If so I wouldn’t be so keen op!

😂😂😂😂😂 I found that quite funny. Thank you for being the only person that's managed to raise a smile today 😃

ny20005 · 25/09/2023 19:04

The amount of people that fall for these types of scams is mind boggling.

I had a woman who believed she was friends with Prince Harry on Facebook & he needed money to help him divorce Meghan & she sent him £20k Confused

Just because you reached out first, doesn't mean that's the same person's thats responding / grooming you now

Isinglass20 · 25/09/2023 19:05

Regarding scams. I randomly checked my credit report recently and to my horror saw ‘default’ by BT when I was in credit. I contacted BT who said nothing to do with them. Long short it was a scam. Don’t know who as I never had any paperwork claiming I owed money to anyone. Reported to action fraud and police. It falsely depressed my credit score after much hassle now restored

BlackCountryWench2 · 25/09/2023 19:06

Just a word of warning: it may not even be catfishing/a scamming imposter/a hacked account. If the last few months have taught us anything, it’s that real influencers can be grifters too. I’m looking at you, Jack Monroe, but there are scores of others who “earn” through begging their followers for donations towards their activism, campaigning, rent and food etc. it’s still scamming, even if it’s the real person.

BooneyBeautiful · 25/09/2023 19:19

Fredflinstoneswife · 24/09/2023 07:09

With AI technology its actually now possible to scam/deceive on a videocall. It sounds impossible but I watched an episode on 60mins austrailia recently on YouTube about a woman who did a videocall with the supposed person and the scammer used some technology to make it appear they were the purported person. Its nuts.

Yes, and there is stuff on line of Martin Lewis that is definitely deep fake. He even called it out on his last show. It's very realistic.

CodenameSailorV · 25/09/2023 19:28

Is it Russell Brand?

SquashGnocci · 25/09/2023 19:36

It's not Jeremy Kyle is it?

devondad1 · 25/09/2023 19:39

So sorry OP, but as others have said, now they have asked for a donation it is obvious this is a known scam. Jeremy Vine did a show on it a few months ago where he interviewed women who had been convinced they were chatting to someone famous but not too famous and ended up sending cash. It usually ended up with a story that they really wanted to meet up but their management wouldn't allow it, so they had to either (a) send a big enough donation so they could justify meeting up (promising that they would be repaid) or (b) the "star" didn't have access to their own money and needed a loan to pay for the flight so they could meet. I'm sure there are lots of variants on the theme.

In future I would totally agree that an early Facetime or request for a personalised non-rude photo would flush out the fakes. I don't think it's unreasonable to say "I know this sounds silly but so I know it's you could you send me a photo of you with today's newspaper?" or something that a scammer couldn't fake.

Hope you didn't send any money in the end!

Naillig222 · 25/09/2023 20:08

You mentioned offering the money through official channels. Scammers play the long game. They will probably be absolutely fine with you using official channels to reel you in until you really trust them.

Even if it is the influencer themselves, they are probably scamming too. They will be getting some benefit anyway.

Diva66 · 25/09/2023 20:21

I’m a Foo Fighters fan. ‘Dave Grohl’ started following me and sent a DM.😂

JST88 · 25/09/2023 20:38

Sounds like you are both catfishing each other lol. If you don’t want him to see you because of your looks, are your pics fake on socials? Or misleading?

Shelly696969 · 25/09/2023 20:45

As long as your not asked for money following a sob story

Diamondcurtains · 25/09/2023 20:47

Ilovecashews · 24/09/2023 05:02

Someone from the royal family?

😂😂😂. She said not famous but an influencer!

CoughingMajoress · 25/09/2023 21:21

Check also that you haven't posted any pictures showing too much skin or body parts so as not to attract the likes of Armie Hammer.

Yeah, this is it really. I have a couple of friends who are models/actresses and they get DMs from slebs quite a bit, obviously the real people because it's from their verified accounts (not A-list movie stars but like guys who used to be on Eastenders, or boy banders) but it's very obvious they either want a hookup or nudes, since they push to meet in person very quickly. Avoiding meeting is a red flag. I watched the Doctor Phil episode where he meets the woman who's convinced she's married to Tyler Perry and she came up with all sorts of reasons why they hadn't met.

The woman in the catfishing video is an example of that naivete - she looks like a very nice lady but realistically if you're not 20s and have a grid full of pouting bikini selfies you're not going to catch the attention of the kind of celebs who use social media to look for female companionship.

PlipPlopChoo · 25/09/2023 21:27

Don’t really want to suggest that as I don’t want them to see me

So what is the plan if you ever arrange a meet up? Ask them to wear a blindfold or will you pop a paper bag on your noggin?

scotvic · 25/09/2023 21:32

Sorry but there’s a high likelihood that you are just feeding the ego of a narcissist, or potentially being scammed or groomed. Give this up immediately for your own sake, please. Can you socialise in real life, and try to give your attention to real people?

LadyWithLapdog · 25/09/2023 21:40

Scam, OP. I’m glad you saw through it and have no intention of sending money.

As for PP’s friend who thought she was helping out Prince Harry…poor woman.