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A mother nearly lost thousands of pounds at the hands of a scammer who was pretending to be George Ezra.
Helen, 51, told hosts Holly Willoughby, 41, and Phillip Schofield, 60, she believed she was dating the Shotgun singer on Tuesday’s This Morning.
The ordeal started when Helen posted on the Brit Award winner’s official Facebook page, complimenting the 29-year-old’s talent and ability to connect with listeners.
Soon after sharing the praise on the social media site, Helen said she received a friend request from an account named ‘George Ezra’ and received a DM.
The pair then began to exchange ‘up to 40 messages a day’, with Phillip revealing the criminal posing as the Budapest star proposed to Helen.
However, she turned ‘George’ down, saying she was ‘so much older’ with a family, which wasn’t compatible with the singer-songwriter’s life in the ‘spotlight.’
Helen believed she was dating Shotgun singer George Ezra (Picture: Global/Shutterstock)
The Wylde Moon founder asked if it wasn’t ‘weird’ she hadn’t spoken to ‘George’ on the phone, with Helen saying she once tried to call him but he blocked it, saying he was ‘in the studio all day.’
Helen continued that ‘George’ asked her to keep their relationship secret, out of fear of press intrusion, and begged her to come off social media.
Holly revealed that in a ‘roundabout’ away, the scammer had asked for money, with Helen explaining he had asked her to cough up thousands for a meet and greet.
Helen shared her ordeal with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning (Picture: TV/Shutterstock)
She said: ‘He said he wanted to meet me and that the only way to do it without arousing suspicion for the press was to do it through an official channel of a meet and greet, which would cost £5,000.
‘But that included the flight and I told them I was in London so I didn’t need the flights. And they said, “Oh, just £2,500 will do then.”’
Phil added: ‘And you said no to that because that’s expensive and then he – “George” – then got quite upset.’
Helen said she exchanged dozens of messages with the scammer (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
Helen replied: ‘He started to put the pressure on, saying, “C’mon, I want to see you, it isn’t that much money. Don’t you love me then if you’re not willing to spend this much money?”’
Fortunately, Helen said her daughter Jessie became suspicious of ‘George’s’ motivations and ‘realised something was going on.’
‘She said, “C’mon, it’s not real,”’ Helen said, adding that she reported the incident to Catfish UK before she paid the scammer any money.
The scammer tried to get Helen to pay £5k for a meet and greet (Picture: PA)
In a statement shared with Metro.co.uk and This Morning, the real George Ezra said: ‘I’m shocked and saddened to hear that a fan of mine has been taken advantage of in this way.
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‘I hope that the authorities can find a way to help police and deter the rise of “catfishing” and that innocent people can be protected from anyone looking to deceive and defraud them.’
This Morning is on weekdays from 10am on ITV.
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Fortunately, Helen’s daughter was suspicious.
