FRAUDLANDER
Nurse hands over £36,500 as Sam Heughan conman targets fans in US
Jennifer Hyland A fraudster posing as Outlander star Sam Heughan has been targeting his fans across North America.
Multiple women have been tricked into thinking they were speaking to the actor and some have been conned out of life savings.
We revealed last week how one woman was duped into sending £34,000 after being told the money would be invested in Heughan’s whisky brand Sassenach Spirits.
Now a 56-year- old nurse from Florida, Stephanie, has told how she too handed over cash – £36,500.
The mum thought she had been in an online relationship with Heughan since 2018. She paid more than £ 7000 for the delivery of a surprise present she believed he had sent her four months ago.
In November, she paid another £7000 after the con artist claimed he had employed a lawyer to act on their behal f against the del iver y company because i t wa s withholding the gift.
Stephanie, who is too afraid to tell her family, said: “In September he said he’d sent me a package but it never arrived. He said it was a surprise and he’d put a lot of cash in it.
“Next thing I knew I was getting emails from a transport company that seemed to be in Scotland. Apparently the package went from Glasgow but ended up in Brazil and I had to pay for it to leave.
“But then I was told it wound up in Georgia and I had to pay again. The obstacle was the import fees they charged. I paid more than £7000. The person who I thought was Sam claimed he didn’t know about the duty charges.
“Then in November he said he hired a lawyer who went to court for us in Glasgow. He sent me court papers and even a judgment on the ruling. It looked legitimate.It said we had been fined more than £ 7000 for not following the transport firm’s terms and conditions and I had to pay that sum for them to release the package.”
Stephanie, who has been recover ing from a stroke, beganchatting with the fraudster on Instagram after she entered a contest to win a date with the screen star. She said he even told her his Australian ex had died and he needed money to pay for their secret love child’s health care.
The mum said: “The Sam I was speaking to started using the screen name Sammy Roland alongside a picture of Sam on his profile. Roland is Sam’s middle name and he said he was using it because he didn’t want anyone to know it was the real Sam. “We talked on Google Hangouts and developed feelings for each other. I thought we were in a relationship but we never spoke on the phone – he was always busy.
“He would tell me, ‘ Just know you’re always on my mind and I love you.’ Then he told me he had a daughter not many people knew about. He said her mum was Australian but had passed away.
He said her name was Mitchell and she needed surgery. He said he had to pay for treatment privately.”
Stephanie said she was also pressured into using £22,500 in savings and credit cards to buy Bitcoin – a crypto-currency that is virtual – on his behalf and donate to a children’s charity.
Outlander fan Tia Zeigler, 29, from New York, told how she was also targeted by a Sam fraudster but refused to part with money.
She was contacted on Instagram last month after she posted a comment about his whisky firm. She said: “I got a message saying, ‘ It’s my fans who have got me to where I am’. I replied I knew it wasn’t the real Sam but he assured me it was.
“I told him I’d messaged his Instagram and asked if he could tell me what I’d said. But he said he couldn’t access his account. I asked him to send me a video but he told me he couldn’t. He said I was the kind of woman he had dreamed of.”
Another fan, Dolores, from Ontario, Canada, lost £2800 in a similar scam.
The fraudster called her “his queen” and told her she was a “creation from God”, before asking for cash. But after the conman asked for a further £800, she demanded her money back.
Dolores said: “He said he’d look after my kids. Realising it was a scam, I posted all his contacts on the internet.”
Earlier this year, Heughan released a statement warning of fake accounts.
A Sassenach Spirits said: “Our office remains closed until January 5. However, the email has been referred to another team who, if they are working, may provide a comment.”
Heughan’s agent has been contacted for a comment.