Seal superfan, 41, lost £2,000 in fake romance scam after con artist posed as British pop legend

A Seal superfan lost £2,000 in a fake romance scam after an online scammer posed as the British pop legend.

Réka Halasi, 41, from Hungary, went bankrupt after the scammer claimed he was in financial difficulty, despite the fact that the actual artist was reportedly worth £30m.

The fake label had created an Instagram account that Ms. Halasi, who was unemployed at the time, believed to be real.

She sent a direct message to the profile about the album Standards, which was a UK top 20 hit, before the man asked her to communicate via WhatsApp. Mirror informed.

Réka Halasi, 41, from Hungary, went bankrupt after the scammer claimed he was in financial difficulty, despite the fact that the actual artist was reportedly worth £30m. Seal was married to supermodel Heidi Klum (right)

The scammer was able to impersonate the singer, who was once married to supermodel Heidi Klum, on a video call, and even sang Ms. Halasi’s favorite hit: Love’s Divine.

I feel silly. But I enjoyed our conversations and believed that a romantic connection was developing,” Ms. Halasi said.

“He looked and sounded like Seal and he said he was in the United States, which is where Seal lives.”

Ms. Halasi, who is single and has proof-of-work software, was misled for more than two months before she suspected he wasn’t the real Seal.

She continued: “We decided we wanted to meet in person, but he said there was a fee of £10,195 that he needed to borrow.”

“I paid £2,000 and explained that it was all I could afford, but then he demanded that I sell my flat, take out a mortgage and borrow money from friends.”

The scammer bombarded her with messages when she refused, and Ms. Halasi has since reported the scam to the Budapest police.

There are no suggestions that the pop star or anyone connected to him was involved in the alleged fraud.

It comes after a woman who thought she was dating George Ezra was conned by a catfish in hopes of raking in some money.

A woman who thought she was dating George Ezra was actually scammed by a catfish in hopes of raking in some cash

Helen, who only used her first name, told This Morning how an innocent post on the musician’s fan club page led to a web of lies and betrayal.

Helen, using only her first name, told This Morning how an innocent post on the musician’s fan club page led to a web of lies and betrayal, with the impostor asking for £5,000 and then apparently posing as a company. of loans. and New Scotland Yard officers.

The victim of the fraud, who has been divorced for eight years and has three children, was finally saved by her daughter, who immediately became suspicious when she heard it all and took the story to Catfish UK.

It was soon revealed that the scammer tried to ask Helen for money and apparently assumed various identities to do so.

It all started when Helen heard the musician’s tune playing in a store and wrote a thank you post on George’s page, thanking him for making fans smile.

She soon received a reply from George Ezra’s fan club telling her to send a DM, and days later, Helen saw what she thought was a friend request from the real Green Green Grass singer on Facebook.

Before long, she and ‘George’ were chatting almost constantly.

The scammer posing as the 29-year-old celebrity said he reached out because he had music, and claimed his manager told him to contact some fans.