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15:55 Wednesday, 2 October 2024
The Sun is reporting that a terminally ill pensioner lost £140,000 to a scammer posing as former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.
Valerie Horwood, 81, was sent a Facebook message by the con artist claiming to be Blackmore. The OAP was duped into buying hundreds of Apple gift cards for him, which the fraudster claimed she would get back with benefits.
Valerie was sworn to secrecy by the Facebook user due to his so-called celebrity status. But her family grew suspicious when she asked to borrow £2,000 to pay her bills. She was left so traumatized by the con that Valerie attempted suicide.
Daughter Debbie, 58, was then horrified when she looked at her mum's bank account and discovered all her money was missing.
She said: "She was pulled into a false sense of security thinking she had this really good friend who was a famous person. She really did not believe us when we told her that it was a scam. Her world just completely fell apart. She couldn't comprehend what had happened. It is a hard thing to take on that you have just given all of your money away to a scammer. It is a very crafty scam. I have been through the worst emotional rollercoaster with it all."
Read more at thesun.co.uk.
