Emmerdale fan tricked out of £20,000 by conman pretending to be star in horrifying scam

A criminal posing as an Emmerdale actor managed to trick a woman out of £20,000 in a romance fraud scam. The woman and the conman connected on social media before he convinced her that he was an actor on the soap.

Initially, the pair began messaging before the contact moved to telephone calls and the victim eventually sent money to the criminal, who was pretending to be a famous actor.

The Greater Manchester Police's Economic Crime Unit revealed that the victim lost a six-figure sum over a number of transactions across eight months. The criminal posed as the Emmerdale actor and claimed they needed help with a family member abroad as well as with a court case and the breakdown of a household appliance.

The victim was always told that they would get their money paid back, but it never happened.

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In another case, a female victim who sent several thousands of pounds to someone who had pretended to be a celebrity. This went on for over a year before the person reported the fraud to their bank.

Detective Inspector Stacey Shannon, from Greater Manchester Police's Cyber and Economic Crime Awareness Service (CECAS) 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."

Soap actors have previously spoken out about how their likeness has been used by criminals to target fans and get money from them.

Lisa Riley, who plays Mandy Dingle in the soap, said in the past her picture had been used to sell 'weight loss pills'. She said: "They say you will lose 15 kg in 3 weeks, and the amount of people that have bought slimming aids with my face linked to it is off the scale."

Dan Brocklebank from Coronation Street also revealed criminals had been creating fake accounts to get fans to give up their money. He said: "It's happened so many times, people set up what they call my personal account or my official account and start to message people, and they’re being conned out of thousands of pounds."

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