‘Emmerdale star’ tricked woman out of £20,000 ‘to help pay for court case’
A victim of romance fraud was scammed out of £20,000 by a criminal posing as a well-known star of Emmerdale. The conman “met” the woman on social media and convinced her that he was an actor in the soap.
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After initial exchanges of messages and chat, contact moved to telephone calls and the victim, from Greater Manchester, transferred the money to the imposter.
In another case, a female victim transferred several thousand pounds to someone pretending, again, to be a celebrity.
In the “Emmerdale” case the victim lost just over £20,000 through a period of transactions over an eight month period.
She sent money for a variety of things – to help support a court case, emergency breakdown of household items and to help a family member in need abroad. She was always informed the money would be paid back.
The second “celebrity” case went on for over a year before the victim reported it to her bank. It is estimated the loss was around £10,000.
The money was sent to purportedly help a person in an emergency following breakdown of things in house, to help with a deposit for an upcoming sponsorship deal and to help a family member out who had an illness. The funds were promised back but never returned.
‘The impact of romance fraud is profound’
Since January, there have been 148 reports of romance fraud in Greater Manchester with victims reporting losing just over £1m. In 2024, police received 267 reports with a reported loss of £2.67m, while nationally last year, over £106m was lost to romance fraudsters.
Both victims are being supported by specialist officers from GMP’s Cyber and Economic Crime Awareness Service (CECAS) team.
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Detective Inspector Stacey Shannon, from the team said: “The impact of romance fraud is profound, affecting victims emotionally and financially. Our team is here to support victims through the devastating emotional trauma effects that it can have on our community.
“There are some fantastic support groups available to victims independently of the police, such as LoveSaid. If you have been a victim of romance fraud where you have lost money, we urge you to report this to Action Fraud and your bank. You will be heard and you will be believed.
“Our team will be supporting the national Romance Fraud campaign and will be holding a number of events within your communities. These events are free and our team will be on hand to provide you with information on staying safe online and protecting yourself from fraud.”