Yahoo News Woman, 62, catfished by man pretending to be Gary Barlow who said he'd 'split up'
A woman has recounted her experience of being duped by a man impersonating Gary Barlow. Janet Smith, 62, was convinced she was chatting with the Take That star for around a week after accepting a friend request on Facebook.
The impostor showered her with flattery and messages, claiming he had "split up". However, her suspicions were aroused, leading her to press the fraudster into confessing their real identity.
The con artist admitted he was actually a 24-year-old Nigerian man who apologised for the deceit but professed his love for Janet and requested money. Janet is now sharing her story to highlight the dangers of online scammers and to urge the elderly to stay vigilant.
She initially believed she had connected with the genuine Gary Barlow on Facebook on March 26.
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"I was talking to him all week and he was saying to me, 'I'm busy, I've got a lot of schedules'" she recalled. "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."
But as time passed, Janet's doubts grew, and she came to the conclusion that the man she was communicating with could not possibly be the real Barlow.
"Gary Barlow would not talk to somebody like me, he's too famous," she realised. "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, in exchange for revealing his true identity, Janet convinced the con artist with an offer to share her WhatsApp contact.
She further explained: "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.'".
Following this, the man confessed his love for her. Janet recounted: "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'."
On enquiring how much assistance he needed, he responded: "I don't have the power to tell you how much you will give me, only you know in your heart."
After informing him that she was "not in a position to do that", Janet revealed feeling "really guilty". She added: "It's so sad because he's been saying to me 'I love you'. I said 'I am 62 - you're 24'.
"It's disappointing because he is poor and without money. For the past week, he has been messaging me constantly asking about my whereabouts. From 9am until 3am, he messaged me."
Elderly people, she warns, are likely to add these 'celebrities', falling victim to their scams. She added: "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. 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."
