Worried friend is being catfished

[Catfishconcern]

Is it possible for someone to send a DM to you on Instagram that looks like it comes from a celebrity account?
I am worried about a friend who follows a celebrity on Instagram. He sent her a DM, she was thrilled, and they’ve been messaging back and forth ever since, since around October. Their relationship has become very close, they share intimate details and have discussed the future - to the point where she believes they’ll be together. She is trying to arrange to meet him through his management team at the moment so we’ll see what happens with that. He is going along with it saying he’s also very keen to meet.
I hope it’s all real for her sake as she has really fallen for him. He has sent her messages about his love for her etc. She is in her early 60s, he is mid 40s and very famous and fanciable. It just seems too good to be true.
However she is convinced it’s him because she was following his verified real Instagram account and she got a DM from that account.
I’m so worried about her.

Check out the podcast ‘Scammer Stories’ it is full of stories like this.

A common one they use is Dwayne Johnson. There was also a story about an older man who believed he was in a relationship with a porn actress, sending her money to ‘help her leave the industry so they could be together’.

The psychology is very intense and a lot of the time the victim will refuse to believe all the evidence which has been presented to them by friends and family. It’s a type of brainwashing really.

Yeah it'd be interesting to see what he says in response to a phone call or video chat

As part of my business, I run social media accounts for public figures. They have literally nothing to do with their pages. Think that's fairly common.

Really feel for your friend. You need to step up and have a conversation with her!

Did you manage to have a chat with your friend OP?

Her daughter spoke to her about catfishing etc, however she is convinced he’s the real deal.
I think some people believe what they want to believe.
She has form for this and has believed implausible stuff in the past too when it comes to men.

Oh bless her, I think the best you can do is be there for her, support her and try and safeguard her by priming her not to send any money.

Sounds like she's determined to be deluded though.

I also run multiple social media accounts for people as part of my job - they are hardly ever even looked at by the actual celebrity.

I’m dying to know who the celeb is