A heartbroken Friends fan claims he was cruelly scammed out of £200 by a fraudster pretending to be Jennifer Aniston(Image: Daily Echo/Solent News)
A heartbroken Friends fan claims he was cruelly scammed out of £200 by a fraudster pretending to be Jennifer Aniston. Paul Davies from Southampton, says he thought he was chatting to the Rachel Green legend on social media before ‘Jennifer’ asked him to hand over the cash so she could pay for her “Apple subscriptions”.
Paul says he was targeted by a flurry of AI scammers pretending to be Hollywood stars in a worrying new wave of deepfake fraud. The Brit, 43, revealed how he was swamped by swathes of very convincing clips – he thought were from celebrities – including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. However, when ‘Jen’ sent him her driving licence as proof of her identity, he says he fell for it, not least because she told him she ‘loved him’.
Paul Davies from Southampton, says he thought he was chatting to the Rachel Green legend on social media(Image: Daily Echo/Solent News)
Speaking to The Sun, he said: “I’ve had fake videos from Jennifer Aniston saying she loves me and asking for £200. I believed it – and I paid.”
The savage scam saw him send £200 worth of non-refundable Apple gift cards to the alleged American sweetheart as Paul admitted: “I got bitten. “Once bitten, twice shy.”
During their exchange on social media, ‘Jennifer’ sent a slew of sweet messages to Paul while also warning him not to contact Facebook because “you don’t want problems”.
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‘Jennifer’ told Paul she loved him(Image: Daily Echo/Solent News)
The cruel con is sadly part of a worrying wave of deepfake, AI generated videos, which often forge someone’s face, voice or entire likeness.
Paul claims he’s been hounded by droves of deepfake videos, often promising he’s won a huge prize, endorsed by a fake celebrity.
One video even showed a fake Zuckerberg declaring: “This is not a scam – believe me” while flashing a phoney ID.
“They make it look so real,” Paul said. “It’s been going on for five months. I thought someone would get in trouble for this, but they seem to be having a laugh – and getting away with it.”
They even had a phoney driving licence(Image: Daily Echo/Solent News)
Paul, who admits his mental health has been greatly affected by the scam, says he’s sharing his story to protect others.
It comes after another unsuspecting Facebook user fell foul of a scammer pretending to be Brad Pitt.
They conned a French woman out of nearly £700,000 by pretending to be the Fight Club star, despite actually living in Nigeria and never stepping foot in front of a camera.
Interior designer Anne, 53, was conned into funding a fake cancer treatment for the so-called star after receiving AI-generated selfies and love messages.
The sham romance lasted over a year, costing Anne her fortune, her marriage, and her mental health.
Eventually a crack team discovered the scammer’s identity, his Nigerian home, along with, sadly, 34 other victims.
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