Woman who thought she was dating George Ezra was actually victim of fraud

A woman who thought she was dating George Ezra was actually a victim of a cruel fraudster.

It's no secret that the 29-year-old singer-songwriter is a big name in music, having earned a massive following with hits such as 'Shotgun' and 'Budapest'.

And one person who admired his work is 51-year-old Helen, who was understandably excited when she left a comment on Ezra's Facebook page, only to receive a friend request from an account with the singer's name.

Little did she realise she was speaking to a catfish who was only after one thing: money.

Taking to the This Morning couch, the mum-of-three opened up about the experience, saying that she's always been a big fan of the pop star.

After accepting the request, 'Ezra' claimed that his manager had told him to 'touch base’ with fans ahead of a new album coming out.

And it's safe to say things progressed quickly from there - within two weeks, they were message 30-40 times a day, with the person posing as the musician telling Helen they wanted to marry her.

While relaying these details, Helen, who has been divorced for eight years, said she 'turned him down' because she's 'so much older'.

"And he's in the spotlight, I've got family, you know, it just wasn't right," she told Holly and Phil. "I kind of felt like I was supporting him as a fan, not like that."

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Holly then asked if she ever thought it was 'weird' that 'Ezra' didn't call her, to which she said: "Not really - busy life, three kids running around everywhere, messages were easy to fit in around the day."

However, she did once try to call them, but they blocked the number immediately and told her not to phone during the day, saying they were in the studio.

Helen thought she had 'overstepped the mark', with the catfish telling her they have to keep their relationship secret for 'press reasons'.

Although they continued their private exchange, her 'on the ball' daughter Jessie noticed something was up and decided to confront her mum.

When the truth came out, Jessie knew something was up.

Helen's daughter got in contact with Catfish UK and they asked if the scammer had ever asked her for money.

Although he hadn't directly, the mum-of-three explained: "He said he wanted to meet me, and that the only way to do it without arousing suspicion from the press was to do it through an official channel of a meet and greet."

That, she said, would cost £5,000, including flights - or £2,500 without travel.

When Helen turned down the proposal, the fake Ezra got upset and started to pile on the pressure, saying it's 'not that much money' and asking if it meant she didn't love him.

At this point, the fraudster must have realised their plan wasn't working, as Helen was then approached by money launderers.

While on holiday, she received a call from a loan company who told her that her £26,000 request had been approved and the money was in her account - despite the fact that she'd never taken out a loan.

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"There had already been some fraud on my account," she said. "They were trying to use my card details to purchase items."

Helen told them that they'd made a mistake, and the next thing she knew, she got a call from someone posing as New Scotland Yard telling her she needed to move money into a specific account to keep it safe.

Once again, this was all just part of the scam.

Helen said the experience made her ‘think twice’ about trusting people, but that she remains hopeful about finding love in the future - and it absolutely hasn't taken away her admiration for the real George Ezra.