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Emmerdale actor Mark Charnock has opened up about falling victim to an online scammer, who is not only stealing his identity, but is using a picture of three friends of his who has passed away, for personal gain.
In the weeks following the activation of an Instagram account claiming to be used by the soap star – known for playing Marlon Dingle on the ITV soap – Mark is warning others not to be duped.
Taking to his Instagram account, the Yorkshire actor, 53 – who received heaps of praise last year over his devastating stroke attack storyline – slammed the unknown fraudster for using a picture of his late friends to try to mimic his identity.
The picture in question shows a trio of late Emmerdale icons – Richard Thorp, Paula Tilbrook and Meg Johnson – on set of the widely-adored drama.
"This person, whilst pretending to be me has sickeningly used my photo of 3 colleagues of mine who have sadly passed away to authenticate his or her username," Mark wrote. "It disgusts me and I hope you feel the same. Please block and report this person."
Meg – who played Pearl Ladderbanks on the soap – sadly passed away in 2020, with Mark later posting the picture to his own account in tribute to her and his other late colleagues, writing at the time that they were "so very very missed".
Richard – best known for his 30-year tenure portraying Alan Turner in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale from 1982 to 2013 – died during his final year on the show after several bouts of illness.
And Paula – who played Betty Eagleton on the show from 1994 to 2015 – died from natural causes in 2019, aged 89.
Mark – who was last year estimated to have a net worth of $2 million amid his Emmerdale career – also called for those who have come into contact with the fraudulent account to block and report it, with fans quick to comfort the star following his horrid ordeal.
One fan commented on the post: "I have reported and block their account Mark. It is sick they are using your late colleagues to promote this fake account!"
Another commented, "Vile. Insta & Fb & Twitter need to do a lot more to close these down,’ whilst a third added, "Just reported it hopefully it gets sorted soon".
And it seems as though Mark's call for support from his online followers was affective, after the scammer's account was later removed from the social media platform.
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