AP Photo/Matt Slocum
- Scammers pretending to be Trea Turner stole thousands from a 70-year-old Parkinson's patient.
- The scammers convinced her to send $50,000 in total.
- The woman had posted online defending the famous shortstop's playing.
A 70-year-old Parkinson's patient says someone pretending to be an American baseball superstar stole thousands of dollars from her.
Scammers will often impersonate someone close to their victim to gain their trust in what is known as an "imposter scam." In some cases, the criminals will pretend to be a famous person whom they think their potential victim may be a fan of.
These messages are often obviously fake. Some are so bad they've inspired popular memes.
But others are a little more sophisticated.
The woman told FOX 29 in Pennsylvania that the scammer pretending to be Trea Turner reached out to her after she defended criticism of his playing on social media. She was originally skeptical when he asked to move the conversation to Google Chat, but the scammers were "relentless" and "convincing," she said.
"I'm thinking, 'Something's not right here,'" she told the outlet. "He said, 'Oh, I love you.' What? I'm 70-years-old, I have varicose veins older than this guy."
The criminal eventually claimed that Turner was having marital trouble and he needed money from the woman to help with his properties, according to FOX. By the end, she had sent them nearly $50,000.
"I was gullible. I believed him," she told the outlet. "I should've known better but, I just, I overlooked it."
The Towamencin Township Police Department, which is investigating the case, did not return a request for comment from Business Insider. The department told CBS it believes the scammer may be located outside the United States.
The best way to avoid these imposter scams is to take caution if someone claiming to be a public figure reaches out to you and avoid posting on celebrity's social media pages, according to the AARP.
Trea Turner and the Phillies did not immediately return Business a request for comment from Business Insider on Saturday.
A Phillies spokesperson told FOX the organization will not comment on the case because of the ongoing criminal investigation.