A disabled man says he was conned out £10,000 by a catfish fraudster who posed as his ‘celebrity crush’ – an adult film star.
Ben McEvansoneya, 36, started receiving messages on Instagram from someone pretending to be Nicolette Shea – who has featured in dozens of adult movies. Ben, who had his right arm and both feet amputated after suffering meningitis and septicemia as a baby, said he was feeling lonely and suffering from low self-esteem after a recent break-up – so he “just wanted someone to talk to”.
As time went on, Ben and the fake Nicolette began talking about starting a relationship and building a life together. The scammer even said they wanted to move to the UK to be with Ben.
However, after a couple of months, ‘Nicolette’ began to ask for money – claiming she needed it for funeral arrangements following her father’s death. Ben sent the scammer around £200 each month – all from his disability benefits – and occasionally sent larger, one-off sums too.
He estimates that, in the year the “relationship” lasted, he was scammed out of £10,000. But Ben eventually began to notice “red flags” and cut off communications with the scammer.
He said that, despite contacting police, he has not been able to get his money back.
Catfishing is the process of luring someone into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona. The real Nicolette is a 37-year-old adult film star from California.
Ben said: “I feel humiliated by it now but at the time I thought it was real. I was in a low place and had low self-esteem. I guess I was just naive.
“I was lonely and I wanted someone to talk to. It really was very traumatic because I had to deal with the emotional impacts and the financial impacts.
“I’m disabled and so rely on benefits and the money I was sending meant I was struggling to live properly. I actually had a nervous breakdown.”
Ben said he and ‘Nicolette’ were messaging for around a year but whenever he asked for a phone or a video call, she would say no. And then he started to grow suspicious after he started seeing articles about scammers online.
Ben said: “I noticed that they would have an excuse every time I asked for a phone call or video call. And I actually started coming across articles online about scams.
“So I just cottoned onto the fact that that was the situation.”
Due to stress caused by the scam, Ben moved out of his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire and back to Taunton, Somerset, where he grew up – so he could “start his life again”.
He said the police launched an investigation but the scammer couldn’t be found.
“I confronted the scammer but they obviously denied it and then the conversation went dead,” Ben added. “When I spoke to police, they told me that these scams are happening a lot – particularly romance and celebrity ones.
“These scammers prey on the vulnerable and unfortunately, I was one of those people at the time. It’s sad that people take advantage of other people’s good nature.”
Although he is “embarrassed” about what happened, Ben wants to share his story to stop other people falling for similar scams.
He said: “It’s embarrassing but I hope I can help other people become more aware of things like this. There are tell-tale signs like refusing to have a video call or asking for money. These are all red flags.
“I just didn’t notice them at the time.”
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