I’m honestly shocked that people still get catfished like this. Video chat with people to make sure they’re real!
Boy oh boy did a Houston man have a nice little scam going. Chinwendu Azuonwu was posing as Bruno Mars on Instagram. Now Bruno Mars does have an official Instagram page, but it looks like a North Texas woman believed that this was the REAL Bruno Mars Instagram page. From September to October in 2018 Azuonwu was chatting up this woman posing as the pop star.
Documents state the woman fell in love with the Mars account and at the time, she believed him to be the real singer because he had sent her multiple texts and photos of the artist while he was on tour. She also told investigators that he wanted to quit the tour to be with her.
The 63-year-old woman fell for it hook, line, and sinker. In just this short amount of time, Azuonwu was able to con the woman out of a lot of money. According to investigators, she was asked to make out a $10,000 check to a “friend of the band” for “tour expenses,” and then, two days later, draw out more funds, this time amounting to $90,000. Each amount was deposited in separate accounts, which were each held by Azuonwu.
Investigators were able to track down Azuonwu in Houston. He was charged with third-degree felony money laundering last month but was taken into custody this week. Once again, don’t get catfished in 2021. There’s no reason why you can’t video chat to confirm someone’s identity. At least do that before sending ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!
