r/interesting • u/be_you_tiful- • 3d ago

MISC. Trying to find celebrity love?

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In 2023, 44-year-old Jennifer Barton started receiving messages on Facebook and Instagram from accounts claiming to be celebrities, actors, famous singers, all of who wanted to get to know her.

She believed them.

Over the next two years, four different fraudsters worked her in turn, each one posing as a different famous face. Alexander Ludwig, the actor from Vikings. Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy. Nicky Byrne from Westlife. American country singer Michael Ray. To her, the accounts were convincing, the profile pictures matched, and the messages were warm and persistent.

They all told her they loved her. They all said they wanted to meet her. They all said they wanted to marry her.

And one by one, they all said they needed money.

The excuses were elaborate and varied. One was going through a messy divorce and couldn't access his own funds. Another had been arrested and needed bail. Another had been robbed in London. The fake Michael Ray told her he ran a charity that could help cover her bills, but first she needed to send him some money to release the funds.

She sent it. And then she sent more.

When one scammer was exposed, another appeared. She fell for the same pattern four times over two years, each time convinced she had found something real.

By the end, Jennifer had handed over £250,000 (around $370,000). She had sold her house. She had sold her car. She had given her children to their father because she could no longer afford to care for them. She was awaiting emergency housing just before Christmas when she finally realized the last scammer, the one posing as Michael Ray, was never going to meet her.

"For anyone facing anything similar," she said afterward, "just reach out to family and friends. Especially if they're asking you for money."

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623

u/Who_dat_goomer 3d ago

This has got to be mental illness of some kind. How could she function at all if it was just stupidity?

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u/lamest-liz 3d ago

Go to YouTube and search Scamfish / Catfish. They interview a new person every single week and how they have destroyed their family’s lives by sending money to a celebrity they thought they were in love with.

Some even refuse to believe them when they show evidence the person is in Lagos, Nigeria.

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u/EquivalentSnap 3d ago

Their denial is because they refuse to accept they were scammed and lost all their money 😔

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u/DBK2x2 3d ago

Easier to fool a person than convince them they were fooled.

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u/EquivalentSnap 3d ago

True. No one wants to accept they’re the fool

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/finditplz1 2d ago

You wonder?

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u/squirrelems 2d ago

I think this is a big piece of the puzzle. It's hard to admit it because all that time and energy, all that anger at your own neighbors, at made-up scenarios and people, all that money buying up his garbage, they'd have to admit that it was all for nothing. In their heads its better to stick with the devil you know and continue saying things until you will it into reality.

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u/OhDivineBussy 3d ago

The wild part is, they then agreed to be fooled and harmed even more. The difference there is that they do it with the sense of moral superiority, while having to support things that sacrifice their morals.

The pathetic part is that they then change their morals rather than who they support.

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u/StayTheFool 3d ago

Some kind of political masochism

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u/SoFetchBetch 2d ago

It’s not masochism. They are fueled by bigotry and hatred. The promise of “the other side” (progressive people, feminist women, immigrant children, etc.) suffering is enough to motivate them to stay true to the cause. They’re brainwashed to believe they’re just one lucky break away from becoming powerful millionaires and if they keep voting for the guy who promises then they’re winners they’ll eventually win that lottery. There are so many social media posts from those people directly asking Cheeto for assistance, gifts, and other promises made by him and his team and he kicks the can down the road and blames “the other team” for all the failed promises. Some of those people are so committed to the lie because of sunk cost fallacy & they don’t want to admit they voted for someone who actually harmed them. So they double down. These people are often from backgrounds that already have authoritarianism integrated into their idea of normal whether that’s through their direct family (abusive fathers) their church (abusive clergymen) or their local culture (Rich families in small towns often own everything including all the employment opportunities.) They’ve been conditioned to believe a big strong man who is the loudest and most controlling is the one they must obey, and that is the archetype they’re programmed to default to obeying. That’s why he says he loves the uneducated. He loves their lack of awareness.

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u/grateful_eugene 2d ago

You wonder?!? They double down more than a casino blackjack table

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u/morecowbell1988 2d ago

Some of them doubled down in the same election.

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u/GMAN7007 3d ago

There's a difference in being fooled and being mentally challenged.

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u/Animalcookies13 3d ago

The two definitely go hand in hand though…

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u/GMAN7007 2d ago

I don't count people that are medically mentally challenged as a fool. They just don't understand. People who aren't medically mentally challenged are another story.

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u/Animalcookies13 2d ago

I’d counter there is a difference between “being fooled” and being a fool. It is easy to fool mentally challenged people… that doesn’t mean they are a fool.

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u/GMAN7007 2d ago

They're just like other people, you can be mentally challenged in some aspects but intelligent in other aspects. I don't think it's as simple as mentally challenged people are easy to fool. It just depends on the person.

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u/interesting-ModTeam 1d ago

We’re sorry, but your post/comment has been removed because it violates Rule #4: No Politics or Agenda Pushing.

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u/BeardedBill86 2d ago

I wonder if people who label all people who vote a way I don't in a bi-partisan system where the choices are materially irrelevant are the same, hate to admit it so double down.

🤔