A single mother believed Vin Diesel was madly in love with her that she decided to give thousands of dollars away to the online scammer.
Katja Lorenz said the Fast and Furious star messaged her on social media and she started a sweet online relationship with him.
However, things turned sour when her actor boyfriend asked to send him $6,500 (€5,500) to help him return home after he had an accident while in South Africa.
“I work with actors, and I met Vin Diesel years ago at the Berlinale and follow him on Instagram. Sony wrote to me, I didn’t think it was unusual, as we vaguely knew each other,” Lorenz from Berline shared.
Even though she thought it was strange that the actor did not contact her using his personal account, his excuse seemed understandable.
The 45-year-old told her: “I can’t write to strange women via my official account. My management team would notice that immediately.”
The two immediately started an online relationship, with ‘Vin’ calling her ‘darling’ and ‘babe,’ promising to give her money.
Lorenz told German newspaper Bild: “We wrote to each other every day. I felt trapped and desired.”
The conman then told her that he was going to South Africa for a secret photoshoot but said he had been attacked and needed her help to return home.
The mother-of-one bought gift cards and sent them to the conman with the codes. “I took out a loan for it, and didn’t give my children anything for Christmas,” she expressed.
She then realized that she had been scammed, and after asking the conman to tell her who he was, he replied: “I am 23 years old, a medical student, and I finance my studies this way. I’m sorry.”
Calgary Police Fraud Unit investigator CST John Pye said alarm bells should ring anytime someone asks for money or personal information such as a social insurance number or a date of birth.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it is,” Pye said.
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