Things sure looked as if it would end “Upside Down” after this one.
A “Stranger Things” obsessed woman fell victim to a ruthless catfishing scam where she began an internet relationship, divorced her husband and sent $10,000 value of gift cards to someone portraying an actor from the hit Netflix show.
McKayla, a movie artist and single mother from Kentucky, claimed she was in a “very toxic” relationship along with her husband so she joined an internet artist forum to make connections, in keeping with the YouTube channel Catfished.
“I’m incredibly excited to attach with fellow filmmakers who share the identical passion for the art of filmmaking. I’m currently searching for creative collaboration opportunities, and I think that together, we are able to create something truly remarkable,” she wrote on the forum.
She later received a message from a user named “DK MH,” saying he would really like to speak and eventually claimed they were “well-known actor” Dacre Montgomery, who played Billy Hargrove on “Stranger Things.”
“D K M H” is the title of Montgomery’s poetry book.
“Me and him just really hit it off, but in fact, I’m suspicious from the get-go until he starts doing things that make me imagine that he’s who he’s,” McKayla said.
“I’m obsessive about ‘Stranger Things,’ Billy is just this bully he type of is available in tries to only dominate which is completely unlike his actual personality.
Although they never met in person, McKayla says “Montgomery” was at all times complaining to her about his relationship issues.
A few of those issues were how his girlfriend Liv Pollock controlled all of his bank accounts and is having some money problems, which eventually led to McKayla sending “Montgomery” $10,000 over time.
“That’s one thing we actually bonded over, and principally through the connection he was venting to me after just a few months about his partner saying she’s very controlling of him, he doesn’t get to do the things he desires to do, she’s at all times there, (she’s) at all times got to supervise.”
“I type of empathized with that because my ex-husband was that way,” she stated.
After a 12 months of personal messaging, “Montgomery” had asked McKayla to be his girlfriend, though the 2 never met in person.
The fake actor told McKayla to maintain the connection quiet since he was still in a relationship with Pollock.
At one point, the scammer gave McKayla an ultimatum to make a choice from him and her husband.
McKayla then broke the news to her now ex-husband, “Listen, it’s not understanding. You’re not letting me be me, you’re not letting me be free, I said you’ll want to leave.”
Together with her husband out of the image and McKayla living along with her 7-year-old daughter, Montgomery popped the final word query.
“I’d need a bit of help with money, my queen… Liv has control of all of the accounts and I don’t have access,” Montgomery said through text.
McKayla sent the scammer $100 and $200 via gift cards, payment apps or cryptocurrency, a tactic scammers use to make it hard to trace the destination of the funds.
“After I tallied all of it up it was $10,000-ish,” the girl claimed.
McKayla would also receive a reimbursement from Montgomery — within the types of gift cards and checks — one written out for $5,500, where she was to make a checking account to deposit the check into and send the a reimbursement to him.
The investigators looking into McKayla’s story found “Montgomery” was a person posing as a “Romance Scammer,” someone who attempts to create a relationship with someone to then get them vulnerable and play with their feelings to make a financial gain out of it.
“Catfished” came upon Montgomery would never need gift cards of $100 and $200 dollars as he made roughly $150,000 for the 19 “Stranger Things” episodes he appeared in from 2017-2022.
The channel discovered the one check was forged, with multiple other “fakes” with the identical signature being found across the web.
McKayla says she doesn’t need to see other people change into a victim of a scam like she did, as her scammer used her feelings and made her vulnerable.
”In the event you’re someone like me, you’re afraid of abandonment and also you’re an actual big people pleaser, and these scammers, they simply type of are available and so they leech off that.”