Dublin Woman Falls Victim to High-Tech Romance Scam Posing as Chris Martin
A Dublin woman inadvertently parted with €25,000 after being manipulated by a fraudster impersonating Coldplay’s Chris Martin.
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Credit: Getty
Scammers utilized advanced artificial intelligence to convince the woman into believing she was involved in a romantic relationship with the popular singer. This high-tech scam involved multiple platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Skype, to build trust and extract money.
The Targeted Approach
The con artist began by targeting the woman’s comment on a Coldplay post on X (previously Twitter) in 2021. This method of enticing victims through social media comments is common in modern scams.
Speaking to RTE journalist Barry Lenihan, the victim shared: “I didn’t believe it was true initially, but then I was like, could it be?”
She explained how the scam unfolded: “He contacted me via WhatsApp and Facebook with fake Chris Martin accounts. Then, he moved to Skype. He told me to keep it a secret since he was a public figure.”
The scammer groomed the woman over several months, using charm and humor to build trust. He then gradually introduced requests for money, starting small and increasing the amount as she became more trusting.
The Financial Impact
The scam involved multiple requests for money, including €150 to €400 for an orphanage, €2,200 for flight tickets, and €22,000 claimed to be frozen due to the pandemic.
The victim recounted, “I transferred money from my pension account in Dublin. I had it in a savings scheme. I did multiple transfers of €5,000 each. If they had probed me, I would have said it was a loan for Chris Martin. They would have realized it was a scam.”
The bank later confirmed the woman fell victim to authorized push payment fraud, where she was tricked into sending money to a fraudulent account posing as a genuine payee.
Red Flags
Throughout the scam, the victim encountered several red flags, such as the scammer using different women’s bank accounts and sending unfiltered images of Chris Martin.
The woman admitted, “He kept using different women’s bank accounts, three in the UK and then one in the US. I got phone calls with Phil Harvey, his manager, and Guy Berryman, another band member.”
These inconsistencies should have raised suspicion, but the level of manipulation and the emotional connection created by the scammer made it challenging for the victim to realize the truth.
The Revelation
It was only when the woman talked to her brother that she realized she was scammed. Her brother contacted Coldplay’s head office in London, confirming there was no romantically involved Chris Martin.
The woman made a criminal complaint, sparking a cross-border investigation by the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) and the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.
The Emotion and Aftermath
The emotional impact of the scam was profound. The victim expressed feelings of devastation and embarrassment.
She said, “I was devastated, really devastated. It was such a large amount of money. I was initially embarrassed, didn’t want to talk to anyone, was really depressed. I felt really stupid. I cried a lot.”
Three years later, the woman has moved on, but the financial loss remains. She has deleted her social media accounts, enabled caller ID, and is more cautious about unsolicited romantic overtures online.
Prevention Tips
This case highlights the critical importance of being vigilant when engaging with potential romantic interests online, especially from public figures.
- Verify claims through official channels.
- Be cautious with financial transactions over the internet.
- Use caller ID and avoid responding to unknown phone numbers.
- Delete your social media if you feel threatened or targeted.
- Report suspicious activity to the appropriate authorities.
