'I thought I was speaking to Gary Barlow - the truth left me feeling really guilty'

A woman has told how she was catfished by a man pretending to be Gary Barlow.

Janet Smith, 62, believed she was talking to the Take That singer for about a week after she added him as a friend on Facebook. The fake Gary bombarded her with compliments and messages and said he had "split up".

But she grew suspicious and eventually convinced the scammer to reveal their true identity. The cheat said he was actually a 24-year-old man from Nigeria and was sorry for lying to her - but told Janet he really did love her and asked for cash.

Janet is speaking out to raise awareness of online scammers - and warn older people to be alert. Initially, she believed she had added the real Gary Barlow on Facebook on March 26.

"I was talking to him all week and he was saying to me, 'I'm busy, I've got a lot of schedules'", she said.

"He was kind. He was nice. He was really lovely, saying, 'Good morning. Good evening, I've seen your videos' because I love to dance.

"The words were really posh - 'I'm in a meeting now' and 'I'm practicing for a concert. And it was going well. He just kept saying 'I'm Gary Barlow, I've split up."

After a few days, Janet started to get suspicious and realised the man she was speaking to couldn't be the real Barlow.

"Gary Barlow would not talk to somebody like me, he's too famous," she said. "I just thought, this isn't Gary Barlow."

"I kept saying, 'you're not the real one!' And he was saying, 'You're lovely, you're kind, yes, I am Gary Barlow.'"

Eventually, Janet managed to persuade the scammer to reveal the truth by telling him he could have her WhatsApp number in exchange for his true identity.

She added: "He sent me a message to say, 'look I'm really sorry: I'm going to tell you the truth and he told me his name. He is very poor.

"He's on WhatsApp and he's texting me saying, 'I'm sorry, I've done fraud but we come from a poor family. I do admire Gary Barlow, I like singing and I like his songs.'"

The man eventually confessed his love for her.

Janet said: "He said, 'I thought you would be able to help me and my family but it's sad that you can't'. I asked him what he meant by that and he said 'some money to get some food in Nigeria.'"

When Janet asked how much he needed, his response was: "I don't have the power to tell you how much you will give me, only you know in your heart."

Janet told him she was "not in a position to do that", but says that the whole experience has left her feeling "really guilty".

She said: "It's so sad because he's been saying to me 'I love you'." I said 'I am 62 - you're 24'.

"I'm saddened because he is poor and he's got no money. For the last week, he's been constantly texting me, asking me where I am.

"He was texting me from 9am to 3am. Elderly people are going to be adding these 'celebrities'. They're going to be conning these old people.

"I understand that they are poor and they have to get money for their family, but people might lose a lot of money over this. It's also giving celebrities a bad name."

Now, Janet said that she is sharing this story to help others avoid such scammers in future.

She said: "There were 20 Tom Jones'."

"And Michael Barrymore has been coming up. When they send a message, it's similar.

"I think a lot of these foreign people are doing this because their countries are poor, but people think they're real celebrities."