Woman catfished by a scammer pretending to be Gary Barlow offered chance to meet him

A WOMAN catfished by a scammer pretending to be singer Gary Barlow has been offered the chance to meet the real deal.

Janet Smith was convinced she was talking to the Take That star after adding him as a friend on Facebook.

SWNS

Janet Smith was convinced she was talking to Take That star Gary Barlow[/caption]

Getty

The fairy tale came crashing down when she realised it wasn’t the real Gary Barlow at all[/caption]

SWNS

The scammer added Janet on Facebook after spotting her name in the likes[/caption]

But Janet, 62, got suspicious and “Gary” admitted he was a 24-year-old from Nigeria, declared he loved her and begged for cash.

After speaking out, the real Gary Barlow shared her story on Instagram.

He wrote: “Dear Janet, I’m so sorry to hear this, please come to any show you want and meet me.”

Pizza restaurant worker Janet, of Colchester, Essex, said: “Someone texted to say he’d seen the story — I don’t know how. He hasn’t contacted me directly.”

She said of the scammers: “Elderly people are going to be adding these ‘celebrities’.

“I understand they are poor and have to get money for their family but people might lose a lot of money.

“It’s also giving celebrities a bad name.

“There were 20 Tom Joneses.

“And Michael Barrymore’s been coming up.”