A woman planned to leave her husband and buy a house with a man she thought was Outlander star Sam Heughan after being duped in an incredibly cruel scam.
The 56-year-old contacted Edinburgh Live to tell her story after reading about a New Yorker who lost an eye-watering £34,000 after being targeted in a similar fraud.
The woman lives near Eindhoven in the Netherlands but planned to visit the man she thought was Heughan in Scotland once Covid-19 travel restrictions were relaxed.
And she even became convinced that he was going to buy a house in Holland so he could spend more time near her.
Sandra, who only wants to be known by her first name, told Edinburgh Live that she began messaging the imposter around six weeks ago after receiving a request on Instagram.
She said: "It all started when I posted a comment on a photo on Sam Heughan's Instagram. After that I got a request to chat. It looked real, and I was not aware of the scam, so I accepted of course.
"He seemed really interested in me. We chatted for a while and then he sent me a selfie. I was convinced it was really him as I hadn't seen that photo anywhere else on social media.
"We had a heartfelt chat and I really fell for him. I told him I was married and 56-years-old but he didn't mind which was surprising for me.
"We spoke on Instagram, and we tried to do a video hangout call but it didn't work so we went to telegram and started sending messages there. He would say things like he is always thinking of me, and I fell for it.
"We arranged that we would meet in Scotland after the pandemic was over, but he didn't want to wait. He then said he wanted to buy a house in Holland so he could be near me."
The scammer said that Sandra's help would be needed in purchasing the house, and it all had to be done anonymously.
As a result he claimed he would send a suitcase containing £2million to the 56-year-old, and at this point the alarm bells began ringing.
Sandra told Edinburgh Live: "He said money wasn't an object as he was rich, so I helped him look for houses and sent him some pictures. He wanted to buy it anonymous so people wouldn't know about it, and said he needed my help.
"When he asked to put it through on my account and I said no, he said he was going to send the money – £2million – by courier. I couldn't believe that but I was sent pictures of the money loaded into a suitcase. When I was told I had to pay £550 to get the package through I became suspicious.
"I confided in my employer as I trust him with everything. He always gives me good advice, and he suggested it could be a scam.
"After that I blocked everything – all of the chats we had so they couldn't contact me again."
Sandra says that the ordeal has caused problems between herself and her husband, and left her completely devastated.
She said: "I was heartbroken as I had fallen in love with Sam. I totally fell for it. All of it.
"I didn't lose any money, like the other lady, but I had to tell my husband and he was really not happy. We've had to do a lot of talking since, and renew our marriage.
"This isn't in the news so much so I want to warn people about it. I read the story about the other woman in New York and thought it would be good to talk about what happened to me.
"There will be other women out there who have had the same messages, so I want to warn them about how these scams operate."
Earlier this week it was reported how a New York woman lost her life savings after being talked into handing over around £34,000 to a scammer posing as Heughan.
Heughan, who went to school in Edinburgh, previously released a statement on social media warning of fake accounts and said a number of unnamed individuals conducted a hate campaign against him, which included trying to hack his email and personal accounts. The actor added that he had wrongly been accused of “trying to mislead or extort fans for money”.
