SUPER-FAN’S SHOCK
Janet Smith will ‘Never Forget’ how her favourite singer mended her heart after an online con-man tricked her
When Janet Smith received a Facebook friend request from Take That frontman Gary Barlow, she couldn’t believe her luck. She accepted immediately and within moments was sending messages back and forth with, who she believed to be, the superstar.
Janet, 62, was bombarded with compliments and messages from the singer, telling her all about the upcoming tour. But soon Janet grew suspicious –and eventually convinced “Gary” to reveal his true identity... The scammer said he was actually a 24-year-old man from Nigeria but told Janet he really did love her and asked for cash.
Upset Janet was relieved she had spoiled the plan before any money was handed over and set about raising awareness of online scammers. But her story had a happy ending when the actual Gary Barlow reached out and offered tickets to the Take That tour to make up for everything she’d been through.
Janet says, “After being duped, I couldn’t believe the actual Gary Barlow was reaching out to me. He invited me to the show, and Ieven got to meet him. It was certainly a night I’ll Never Forget! I feel so lucky that Gary turned something horrible into something amazing for me.”
COMPLIMENTS
Janet, who works as a cleaner, was at home in Colchester, Essex, in March when she got the friend request. She says, “I opened the app, and nearly spat out my tea. ‘Gary Barlow!’ I gasped as I clicked on the profile. He was a famous pop star, Iwas confused why he’d reached out to me.
“I quickly clicked ‘accept’ and immediately received amessage from him saying hello with the hand waving emoji. My heart was pounding! I wasn’t sure if he was the real deal, but we soon got chatting and he seemed really friendly and genuine.
“‘Gary’ went on to tell me all about his band rehearsals and meetings. We ended up messaging throughout the day, and I got butterflies every time my phone buzzed with a notification. I didn’t tell any of my friends or family about my new friendship, because Iwas afraid of how they might react. Iwas talking to him all week and he would write things like, ‘I’m busy, I’ve got a lot of schedules’. But he was kind and nice.”
She adds, “The messages became more and more frequent, and he started to shower me with compliments.”
But Janet began to smell a rat after a week. She says, “I desperately wanted to believe that the real Gary Barlow had been messaging me, but
I couldn’t ignore the feeling in my stomach that something wasn’t quite right. It was all too good to be true and I just knew deep down that Gary would
