Influecer, 28, reveals he feels ‘humiliated’ after being conned into sending £2,000 to a follower who claimed she was a US woman in need of a kidney transplant
- Cosmin Cernica, 28, who lives in Chelsea, was scammed by a fan on Instagram
- Social media expert said scammer asked for £2,000 towards medical expenses
- Admitted the experience has put him off responding to direct messages
An influencer has revealed he’s stopped interacting with his followers on social media after being scammed by someone he thought was a loyal fan.
Cosmin Cernica, 28, who lives in Chelsea and has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, explained that he was conned by an individual claiming to be a woman who needed to fund a kidney transplant, which wasn’t covered by her insurance.
The social media expert said the woman, who said she was based in America, seemed to have been following his page for some time because she made comments about things he had posted on Instagram in the past.
He told My London that he was further convinced to help the woman because they had a video call, however he was left feeling ‘humiliated’ when she deleted her profile moments after he sent her £2,000.
Cosmin Cernica, 28, (pictured) who lives in Chelsea, claims an individual lied about needing money for medical expenses to scam him out of £2,000
Cosmin, who thought he made ‘diligent’ checks before sending the money, revealed he had spoken to the woman at length over the course of one evening.
He said the scammer seemed ‘genuine’ as she explained that she was hoping to raise money towards medical expenses to treat the one kidney that she had left after an accident a few years ago.
‘We had a call on Instagram, and she started showing me some paperwork from the doctors, the insurance, but obviously I couldn’t see it very well,’ Cosmin said.
‘She didn’t have many pictures on her profile, but she was the same person.
‘She said she lived with her mother, and her mother is desperately trying to raise the money – she showed me a picture of when they did a charity run.’
Cosmin (pictured) said the woman, who pretended to be a loyal Instagram follower, agreed to go on a video call before the money transfer took place
Cosmin admitted he was concerned when the name the woman gave for the money transfer wasn’t the same as the one used on her Instagram account, but said she reassured him the account belonged to her mother.
However, when the social media expert later went to message to check if she had received the money her Instagram account had ‘vanished’ and he later realised all of the things she had pretended know from following his page, had been taken from posts currently visible on the highlights section of his profile.
He had told a friend about the woman’s financial plea, but is now grateful they didn’t also fall for the scam.
Cosmin revealed the experience with the scammer has forced him to stop responding to direct messages from followers in fear and admitted he will now only be donating to charities and people he knows personally.
‘It was a very clever game from her side. Or their side. I don’t know if it’s more people, or just one person,’ he added.
Cosmin (pictured) said the woman’s Instagram account had ‘vanished’ when he tried to contact her to ask if the transfer had been successful
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