Georgia woman loses $11,000 to con man posing as Def Leppard singer
A Jefferson woman has lost money in a scam in which she believed she was in an online relationship with the lead vocalist for Def Leppard, a British band in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
“Right now, she’s out only about $11,000,” Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said Friday.
The woman, who is in her 80s, began her online conversations in December 2023 with “a gentleman named Joe Elliott,” according to the incident report.
Elliott is vocalist for the hard rock band that began producing music in the 1970s and rose to fame in the 1980s. The real Elliott, who is 64, lives in Ireland.
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The woman and the man she thought was Elliott began texting every day and “eventually the conversation turned romantic,” deputies reported.
The man apparently began the serious part of the scam when he would send her money to purchase gift cards, which she would in turn purchase more gift cards as gifts for his children. He did this because he told the woman he was divorcing his wife and he didn’t want her to know about the gifts.
Once they began trading money, he was able to obtain her bank account information including debit card numbers and other ID information with a goal of funneling money through her account and back to him, according to Mangum.
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The man did deposit money in her account and he had her send various amounts of money to people using various apps and recently he told to rent a car for them to use when he comes for a visit in May, deputies said.
The man explained he couldn’t stay long due to the band going on tour from June through September.
Mangum said the woman’s daughters also came to the sheriff’s office for a report after the scam was discovered.
The bank has stopped any more activity on her account, the sheriff said.
The Better Business Bureau offers these tips on romance scams:
Too hot to be true. Scammers offer up good-looking photos and tales of financial success. Be honest with yourself about who would be genuinely interested.
In a hurry to get off the site. Catfishers will try very quickly to get you to move to communicate through email, messenger, or phone.
Moving fast. A catfisher will begin speaking of a future together and tell you they love you quickly. They often say they’ve never felt this way before.
Talk about trust. Catfishers will start manipulating you with talk about trust and its importance. This will often be the first step to asking you for money.
Don’t want to meet. Be wary of someone who always has an excuse to postpone a meeting because they say they are traveling or live overseas or are in the military.
Hard luck stories. Before moving on to asking you for money, the scammer may hint at financial troubles like heat being cut off or a stolen car, or a sick relative, or they may share a sad story from their past.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Fake Def Leppard rock star cons Jefferson woman out of $11,000
