Lisa Riley 'heartbroken' after losing £10k in ticket scam gift to late mother

Lisa Riley 'heartbroken' after losing £10k in ticket scam gift to late mother

The Emmerdale star, 50, was also targeted in a ‘horrendous’ fake pregnancy hoax
Lisa Riley 'heartbroken' after losing £10k in ticket scam gift to late mother
The Weekender

Lisa Riley has shared her devastation after losing almost £10,000 following a Stevie Wonder ticket scam.

The actress, who plays Mandy Dingle on beloved ITV soap Emmerdale, was trying to buy tickets to see Wonder perform with her late mother, Cath, who “idolised” the singer.

Riley, 50, explained that the tickets sold out within two hours and she was unable to get one, so she googled resale tickets and found a “VIP package” website.

“I'm quite an astute girl, I looked at the whole page, it was flawless,” she explained to Good Morning Britain hosts Kate Garraway and Ranvir Singh on Friday morning.

After she had put in her credit card details, her bank alerted her to suspicious activity and it emerged that scammers had spent £9,600 of her money.

Lisa Riley scam
Lisa Riley was scammed out of almost £10,000

They splashed the money on “loads of different things”, including car lessons, in an incredibly short amount of time.

Reflecting on the “heartbreaking” scam, she said she was eventually able to get the money back through her insurance.

Riley also revealed she was scammed once more - this time while applying for a US visa that turned out to be fake.

The TV star explained that she travels to New York every year and renews her ESTA [Electronic System for Travel Authorization] every two years.

She failed to have the ESTA confirmed like she normally would have by the next day - and instead received a suspicious email that alerted her to the process being fake.

Riley recalled thinking: “This is so, so frightening, [the scammers] could make up a passport in my name!”

She also fell victim to a fake visa scam

She soap star urged others to “take a breath” while applying for visas and stay vigilant online, advising people to “automatically presume that it is going to be a scam” to stay alert.

Riley then talked about a cruel AI hoax sharing fake photos of her looking pregnant alongside fake news stories, despite her fertility struggles.

She has had four failed IVF attempts in the past.

The TV star, who is in a relationship with musician Al Benkovic, called out the “absolutely horrendous” fake pregnancy photos last week.

The images include one of her holding an infant, and an edited snap showing her proudly displaying a sonogram – implying that she is pregnant.

Alongside a number of angry emojis, Riley wrote: “THIS HAS TO STOP!!!!! It’s absolutely horrendous!!! Saying that I’m pregnant again!! How is this allowed it makes me so upset…

“What world do we live in that these lies, and more lies are allowed to be put in the public domain. I’m sick to death of it now!!!”

Original source Lisa Riley 'heartbroken' after losing £10k in ticket scam gift to late mother

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