Steve Perry Imposter Scams Journey Fan Out of $122,000

The post Steve Perry Imposter Scams Journey Fan Out of $122,000 appeared first on Consequence .

An Ohio woman was scammed out of $122,000 by an online imposter claiming to be former Journey vocalist Steve Perry .

According to the local WKYC news outlet, the woman was contacted by the fake Perry via Facebook messenger in January, and the two kept correspondence over several months by messaging on WhatsApp. Claiming that he had a “business opportunity” — and that he “needed a woman in his life” — the scammer soon got the woman to start sending him money.

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By the time she wises up to what was happening, $122,000 had already slipped away — $50,000 in gift cards and $72,000 in the form of wire transfers to “various persons in various different states, designated by ‘Perry,’ through her bank,” according to the police report.

The final tipping point for the woman came when the fake Perry began getting more demanding, and asked for photos of her passport and driver’s license. At that point, she contacted the police, who advised her to report the scam to her bank and file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Sadly, this is just the latest instance of an ongoing trend of online scams. Last October, there was a story about a catfisher pretending to be the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb , who scammed a woman out of $11,000. The topic has even made its way to Hollywood, by way of the new film Thelma , which follows a grandma (June Squibb) as she gets some John Wick-style revenge on scammers.

As for the real Steve Perry, he’s been laying relatively low in recent years. This past May, he teamed up with The Effect for their cover of Journey’s “It Could Have Been You,” and last year, he contributed to Dolly Parton’s blockbuster Rockstar album.

His old band Journey kicked off their co-headlining tour with Def Leppard in St Louis, Missouri over the weekend. Grab tickets to their upcoming dates here.

Steve Perry Imposter Scams Journey Fan Out of $122,000
Jo Vito