‘Celebrity’ catfish scams Northern California resident out of more than $25,000

(FOX40.COM) — A Northern California resident lost more than $25,000 after being scammed by a ‘celebrity’ catfish.
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A catfish is someone who steals another person’s identity and pretends to be them online. The scam began when the victim commented on a Facebook post, and someone posing as a celebrity asked the victim to private message him, according to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.

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Deputies said that through chatting on Facebook, the scammer convinced the victim to move their conversation into a popular private messaging app called Zangi. The victim spoke with the scammer for several hours per day, building trust via the app but never over the phone. He was eventually persuaded to join the fake actor’s fan club for $200.

According to NCSO, once the membership was established, the victim was convinced to become a “VIP Fan Club” member at $5,000, and the scamming escalated. The victim paid the scammer through several methods, including mobile wallet numbers, Bitcoin, and gift cards. Law enforcement did not specify which celebrity the scammer posed as.

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“We are sharing this unfortunate incident to build awareness in the hopes of preventing a similar incident from happening to someone else,” said NCSO Undersheriff Sam Brown. “Scammers often pose as others and use deception to build false trust. If you’re contacted by anyone you don’t personally know who asks you for money, chances are it’s a scam and you should not engage with them.”

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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’

‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’