‘I assumed I used to be chatting to my favorite grownup star then she ghosted me £10k later’

A bloke has said he was conned out of £10,000 by a grim scammer posing as his “celebrity crush” adult star.

Ben McEvansoneya, 36, said he began receiving messages from a person pretending to be Nicolette Shea, an American adult actress and the star of esteemed films like ‘Sexual Education 10’, ‘Lil Humpers 6’ and ‘Moms Lick Teens’.

Poor Ben said he was feeling lonely following a breakup when he began receiving the messages on Instagram. With a low self-esteem, Ben just wanted someone to talk to and the fake Nicolette began to talk about building a life together.

He becomes the latest romance scam victim to speak out.

The scammer, who said they wanted to move to the UK to be with Ben, said they needed money a few months into talking. The fake Nicolette said they needed it for funeral arrangements after her father’s death.

Ben, who is disabled after having his right arm and both feet amputated as a baby following meningitis and septicaemia, sent the scammer £200 every month from his disability benefits.

Felling “humilated” now, Ben started to notice that things were wrong and cut off contact with the scammer, but hasn’t been able to get his money back after being in contact with police.

“I feel humiliated by it now but at the time I thought it was real,” he said. “I was in a low place and had low self-esteem. I guess I was just naive.

“I was lonely and I wanted someone to talk to. It really was very traumatic because I had to deal with the emotional impacts and the financial impacts.

“I’m disabled and so rely on benefits and the money I was sending meant I was struggling to live properly. I actually had a nervous breakdown.”

Ben and the fake Nicolette were messaging for a period of around one year. The scammer pretending to be the 37-year-old porn star said no every time he asked for a phone or video call.

“I noticed that they would have an excuse every time I asked for a phone call or video call,” he said. “I actually started coming across articles online about scams. So I just cottoned onto the fact that that was the situation.”

The stress of the situation led Ben to move from his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire back to where he grew up in Taunton, Somerset.

Ben wanted to “start his life again” following the move south. “I confronted the scammer but they obviously denied it and then the conversation went dead…” he said. “It’s sad that people take advantage of other people’s good nature.”

Brave Ben said he is embarrassed by what happened, but spoke about his situation to make sure other people don’t fall foul of it in the future.

“It’s embarrassing but I hope I can help other people become more aware of things like this,” he said.

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