A pensioner who traveled 500 miles to meet his ‘future wife’ has found himself at the centre of a catfish scandal. The 76-year-old from Belgium believed he was travelling to France to meet the “love of his life,” famous model Sophie Vouzeland, to whom he believed he had sent £25,000.
However, when Michel arrived at the home in Saint-Julien, France, he was greeted by the pregnant model’s husband, Fabien. The pensioner’s illusions were crushed after he introduced himself as the 38-year-old’s “future husband”, to which the homeowner responded: “Well, I’m the current one.”
Michel was under the impression he had been speaking to Sophie on WhatsApp, and during the fake online love affair, Michel had even sent a £25,000 loan in the belief he was helping the model, the Mirror reports.
However, a catfish had been posing as the 2007 Miss France runner-up, which all became clear in a video posted by the couple on social media, which they said was to help raise awareness of romance scams.
In the clip, Michel said: “I think she played a dirty trick on me. I am an imbecile,” before showing Fabien the WhatsApp messages.
Sophie’s husband stressed: “My wife, no, it’s the fake accounts. You have to be very careful.”
He posted the video on Instagram without revealing the man’s identity, with the caption: “I feel so sorry for this man. Watch out for fake accounts. I’m sharing this video to show you it’s real and to be vigilant! Take care of yourself.”
Sophie, who is expecting a baby with Fabien, said the incident “hurts my heart”.
Social media users were concerned about how the couple’s address had been discovered, and praised them for sharing it to help raise awareness.
One user responded: “Bravo for making this video for us so people understand that there are a lot of fake accounts and that you have to be ultra careful.”
Another added: “Poor Sophie in the middle of this being pregnant?????? fingers crossed this doesn’t happen again and ends well.”
A third said: “Oh crazy what a story! poor gentleman.. it’s horrible to know that there are still people scamming people.”