Strictly Come Dancing winner breaks down in tears after being duped by online scam

The Independent

Strictly Come Dancing winner breaks down in tears after being duped by online scamSource: Oreoduba

Transcript

00:00Had I been wise enough, I would have seen that there was a couple of things that were a little bit off.

00:05Look, even if Mel had to write it by ChatGPT, I'm really happy to have been acknowledged.

00:09And I left it at that for a week.

00:12And then, oh gosh, this is when it gets a bit tragic.

00:15I got another email from Mel.

00:17I can tell you're already twigging.

00:19So I got a reply.

00:21I'll read this to you.

00:21I want to personally invite you to be a guest on the Mel Robbins podcast.

00:30Literally my reaction.

00:32Our audience would gain so much from hearing your perspective and experiences.

00:36Let me know if you're interested.

00:37We'll get everything set up.

00:38Mel Robbins.

00:40Do you even know what that means?

00:43Is this even real?

00:44It just felt very powerful to have got that message at that time.

00:49And it's terrible because...

00:53I'm reading this back and I know exactly how it made me feel at the time.

00:56And I wrote back and I said, Mel, I'm holding back tears.

01:00I should have known.

01:03Enough of this.

01:04So I had a look on the actual Mel Robbins website.

01:06Lo and behold, scroll down far enough.

01:08It asks, are you wondering if you have been scammed?

01:12Email this address.

01:13The fact that they even had an email address to check in case you've been scammed.

01:18Okay.

01:18Sirens are finally going off now.

01:20So I emailed that address.

01:22Didn't take long to get the reply.

01:23If you are being contacted from a Gmail address, you are not being contacted by anyone from Mel Robbins' team.

01:33It's there in black and white, blue and white.

01:35I mean, the heart's sinking.

01:38By the way, I used to host a program all about scammers.

01:41I have watched enough watchdog to last a lifetime.

01:45That doesn't stop me from being in the middle of it.

01:47I never thought I'd be the person that was going to be scammed.

01:49Oh, I didn't mention the fact that I got another email from fake Mel asking me a whole bunch of questions.

01:55Really deep digging.

01:57And it made me think, if I was more vulnerable, if I was older, if I didn't know anything about this world,

02:02and I had sent all of this information, you start finding yourself in the middle of a hole that you don't even know how to climb out of.

02:08It would have been so easy.

02:10So easy.

02:11I don't even want to get started about how paranoid and terrified I am about the whole AI thing.

02:16I just feel like such an idiot.

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