A recent Reddit post has revealed a heartbreaking story of a scam targeting an elderly woman who believed she was engaged to Pirates of the Caribbean series star Johnny Depp. The scammer, posing as Depp, reportedly convinced the woman to send thousands of dollars, leaving her family scrambling to protect her finances.
In the Reddit post, user u/tonkaterd described their grandmother’s ordeal and the lengths their family went to to stop the scam. “My grandmother thinks she is marrying Johnny Depp and has put our entire family at risk,” they wrote. The family realized something was amiss when u/tonkaterd’s mother noticed $3,000 missing from the grandmother’s retirement account.
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The elderly woman explained that she had been communicating with someone she believed to be Depp, who claimed he needed money to “get out of some movie contract and come ‘take care of her,’” promising they would get married. The family later discovered she had gone to the bank, cashed a check for $3,000, and sent the money via Bitcoin. “She somehow managed to go to the bank, cash a check for $3000, then send it via Bitcoin to this guy,” the user explained.
The Redditor shared that their grandmother is typically “very sharp,” prompting the family to have her evaluated for any medical conditions that might have impacted her judgment. However, doctors found no underlying issues, and the grandmother appeared to understand, at least initially, that she had been scammed. “We thought she understood after all of that that she had been scammed,” the user said. “She said she understood anyways, and we thought that was that.”
But soon after, u/tonkaterd’s mother noticed the grandmother acting suspiciously. The family discovered she had been sharing even more personal information with the scammer. “Come to find out, my grandma has now sent him her card information, told him her address and how much her house is worth, how much is in her account, my parents’ names, numbers and address, all of her grandkids’ names and numbers, and even more,” the Redditor wrote. Despite her family’s repeated attempts to intervene, she remains convinced of her relationship with the Johnny Depp impersonator.
As the fake Depp continued pressuring her for additional money and details, the family took steps to secure her accounts, filing a police report and informing her bank of the situation. “At this point she’s not only putting herself at risk for bankruptcy, but she’s sharing information with god knows who about our entire family,” they concluded.
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Other Reddit users offered advice, with many suggesting legal action to protect her. “Get a lawyer and get conservatorship over her, before she loses everything,” one user commented. Another suggested that the family revoke her internet access, saying, “Grandma has lost the ability to tell scammers apart and will never listen to you, so help her stop hurting herself. The scammers will never stop targeting her.”
One Reddit user even shared that scammers impersonating Johnny Depp have targeted other vulnerable individuals. u/thiefsthemetaken, who sometimes stays at a Los Angeles house near Depp’s, wrote:
“I work in LA sometimes and stay at my manager’s house, next door to Mr. depp. Almost every single night, someone pulls up to the gates, takes out their phone, waits, then leaves later, sometimes crying. It’s really bleak. One woman parked in my driveway once, convinced it was his house. I talked to her for a while, she’d driven to LA from Nevada that day, and said Johnny told her he’d be here waiting. I told her he’s out of town, someone must be tricking her, don’t send money, and if she needs she can sleep in her minivan in the driveway til she’s good to drive. She still didn’t believe me, and waited there with her phone out for at least 5 hours.”
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The unfortunate story serves as a cautionary tale about the increasing sophistication of online scams. Never send money or share personal information with someone you haven’t met in person, and always consult with a trusted friend or family member if you’re concerned about any online communications.
Have you ever caught a scammer online? Share your story with Disney Dining in the comments.
