A North Richland Hills woman is out nearly $200,000 after being scammed by a man claiming to be singer Bruno Mars, who duper her into false promises of romance.
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"When Jane's" husband of 25 years passed away, she moved to a new home and bought a new phone in order to start living a new life. She spent a lot of time on social media talking to friends and strangers, when she received a message from a man who opened their conversation with a line from a Bruno Mars song: "I think I wanna marry you."
Since his name and profile picture matched that of the famous singer, Jane, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of becoming a target for scammers, thought it was actually Mars, who was just looking for someone to talk to. Jane told CBS DFW, "That’s the first thing they do, is try to be your friend. Get to know you and be comfortable with you."
After months of social media interaction, which evolved into discussions about her life, family, and finances, "Mars" asked Jane if she could send him $5,000 to help pay for rental cars he used on tour. And from there, the money requests only kept growing. "It went from five to ten, then we started getting bigger," Jane said.
Jane went on to send a cashier's check worth $10,000, followed by a cashier's check for $90,000 because "Bruno" needed money to help pay for a tour. Jane was constantly returning to her bank to cash out her bonds to give to "Bruno," because she was convinced they were in love.
Eventually, "Bruno" said he was unhappy on tour, and wanted to come live with her in North Richland Hills. So, Jane set up a studio in her garage. She bought music equipment including guitars, drums, microphones, and even bunk beds to make room for the entire band.
After all that, she received a message that "Bruno" had been arrested, and was being detained at Dulles Airport in California. Jane even received pictures of "Bruno" in jail, including a photoshopped stock image of "Bruno" in handcuffs, though she didn't know it at the time. She gathered more money for his bond and texted "Bruno" pictures of a stack of cash and money orders.
THEN, one of the scammers showed up to her front door, posing as one of "Bruno's" security guards! He came to collect the money to get "Bruno" out of jail. So, of course, Jane handed him the money, and waited for "Bruno" to get released.
Soon, she received MORE messages, that "Bruno" needed $5,000 for jet fuel to fly to Texas.
After months and months of sending money, Jane FINALLY realized she had been scammed. She refused to hand over any more money to "Bruno" until he started repaying his debt, and that's when the messages turned to threats.
Jane says, "They threatened to poison and kill me if I didn’t get them the money. That’s how it got toward the end. As you start giving to these people, they just want more and more and more."
Jane contacted the authorities, who were able to trace the cashier's checks to two Nigerian citizens living in Houston. Though both face charges of money laundering, police believe the mastermind behind the plan, the man who was "Bruno" lives overseas.
Jane is now more careful on social media, and has increased the security around her home. She says, "I’m so ashamed that this happened to me. I’m so sorry that I helped this person, even though I thought it was a famous person."